Eyes of the Predator
by Xeaxo47
Summary: Born with a distinctive bloodline and mysterious snake-affinity. Hikari must learn the ways of the ninja in order to become strong enough to protect those who are dearest to her, but will she be able to overcome the darkness in her heart as well as her lineage?
1. Chapter 1

Eyes of the Predator

Ch 1

He let his yellow reptilian eyes survey the woman next to him. Her long black hair laid draped over the curves of her body, and made an abrupt stop at the small bulge in her belly. She had shared his bed for a little over a year now and his child would be due any day now.

It was easy to play the role of the dutiful shinobi, the enthralled lover, he doubted it would be much of a stretch for him to expand his repertoire to include doting father… or perhaps stern father? He had yet to decide the persona he would adapt to turn his future child into a powerful and fear-inspiring shinobi.

The child would be inheriting a Sharingan Kekkei Genkai after all. He licked his lips in anticipation.

The black haired woman gave a slight shiver, so he pulled the covers up over her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. She smiled in her sleep and continued to rest with a contented gaze affixed to her face. The role of the loving husband was almost too easy.

Two years ago he had begun his plan for this woman to carry his child, and with it create an heir which could pass on those magnificent eyes. It had been a slow burn, but when she professed her love for him one day and he told her that "alas, but our love can never be! For you are an established member of the Uchiha, and they will marry you off so that they can keep themselves 'pure'" It had to have been some grade A romantic shit out of one of Jiraiya's romance novels, because she told him that she "didn't want to be with anyone else, and that she would rather abandon her clan than spend the rest of her days without him." Oh she was good at this, there was no doubt.

He had convinced her to run away from the Uchiha compound to a small cabin outside of Konoha hidden in the forest by both camouflage and a mild genjutsu that would make the small clearing to look just like any other part of the forest. He had dutifully gone out to see her as often as he could (using the Anbu and Root access tunnels to make easy escapes out of Konoha). Seven months ago when he arrived at their small cabin she ran up to meet him and told her that she was almost positive that she was pregnant.

Ever the dutiful husband, he picked her up and cheered and told her how happy he was and yelled "I'm gonna have a baby" to the heavens. Honestly, the loving husband routine was almost too easy. He had been extra careful to be careful around her, to keep her mood up and satisfy whatever it was her insane pregnant mind had decided it wanted. Pickles dipped in mayonnaise? Alright. Ramen with Honey Mustard? No Problem. Candy covered in melted cheese? Harder than it you would think. The Sandaime had gotten so confused with Orochimaru's purchasing habits that she thought he might be pregnant.

But all that was almost over now, pretty soon her water will break and she would give birth… in the middle of the forest… with no midwife… shit. If that wasn't bad enough, the goddamn Sandaime was poking around his research lab, and if found some of his more… unique experiments, he would surely have to flee from Konoha, even when he was so close to receiving his prize.

She couldn't travel any meaningful distance away from Konoha in her current condition and he had days at best before they found his research labs, which meant that he would have to leave the child he had worked so hard for in the inept hands of Konoha. DAMN IT!

The next morning he told his dear, dear wife that he would be required to go on a mission soon, and that he would not be abler to be present for the birth of their beautiful baby. He told her that if she began to feel contractions she should move as close to the walls of Konoha as she could and yell, the regular patrols would no doubt find her and take her immediately to an emergency room. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and told him that she understood, that she would take care of their little baby in his absence, and to come home safely as quickly as he could. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Of course I will." He lied.

He ran back to the city, leaving his wife with tears in her eyes.

* * *

><p>2 weeks later<p>

Medical Report on Unknown Civilian (herein after referred to as Jane Doe)

Jane Doe came into our care at precisely 9:18 am on July 2nd, after having gone into labor outside the city walls. Jane Doe appeared to be in a severe state of duress, but refused to communicate with us either her name or someone we would be able to contact to be there to keep her company. She was in labor for approximately 8 hours before giving birth to a healthy baby girl. Due to complications, a few minutes after giving birth to the little girl she decided to name "Hiraki," Jane Doe passed away. Hospital policy dictates that I refer to you in terms of what we should do with the child.

Sarutobi looked down at the letter and sighed. _Poor kid, she's born into this world with no one to help her. _As sad as it was, children being orphaned occurred much more often than he would like, but that was life in a hidden village. _I don't really have a family that I feel like I can put this poor girl into, but being in an orphanage from the cradle isn't how I want this poor girl to start out her life here. _He spent a full hour in his office before deciding that it would be easier to decide a home for the poor thing if he could see her. His Anbu guards offered to escort him to the hospital.

Sarutobi bristled, "I am not so old, that I require an escort to visit a small child in my own city!" They hesitated before bowing to the former Hokage's wishes. _Ha! I can always play the old man card to make these younglings uncomfortable. _He had to suppress a snicker as he exited his office. He quickly made his way down the street taking in the sights of Konoha at night. Despite how hard he tried to think on the task at hand, his mind continued to drift towards his wayward apprentice and the horrible experiments he had been running right under their noses.

He could still see him, experimenting on the still warm corpse of one of the villagers, OUR VILLAGERS, as he laughed and hummed, as if he were doing something entirely wholesome and justifiable. But Sarutobi had just watched as his apprentice slipped out of his grasp. He was a failure. He had created a monster, and then let it run free.

His heart was heavy as he walked his way into the nursery and searched for the little name tag that gave would tell him where Konoha's most recent arrival, "Hiraki." _I always find it so peaceful in here, being able to see the embodiment of Konoha's future has always made it so that even on my darkest days, I still have hope. Because every one of these children are my family, and I would rather die one thousand times over then for Orochimaru to get his hands on even a single one of them._

_WHAT. THE. FUCK._

Wrapped around Hiraki's small, delicate arm, was a thin snake. A dark green snake with purple diamonds leading the way from its head to the tip of its tail. His mind raced as he saw the excessively poisonous snake lean its way up to the infants face and… snuggle? SNUGGLING SNAKES? His mouth was agape as he saw Hiraki's right arm move to tap the snake on its head, as if she were trying to pet it, but hadn't really understood the motions she was trying to make. It was then the he saw the Kanji written on the back of those tiny hands said "Mamoru." Protector? Well this didn't make even a little bit of sense. These types of snakes weren't even indigenous to Konoha, this was a dessert dwelling snake, and there wasn't dessert for miles in any direction.

_Alright Sarutobi, you are going to need to think. There is a highly poisonous snake cuddling with a newborn in the hospital. As old as you are, this is still a first. We can't exactly separate the two of them, the snake has coiled itself around the child's arm, nor can we kill it, without risking the baby._

The snake looked up from its small prize and leveled its head at the aged shinobi. "Can I asssissst you?"

_Oh good, it's just a summons… Wait, no that doesn't really help at all_, _but better to keep it talking than to have it start killing. _"Ah, yes," his voice came out with a slight wheeze despite his best efforts "I would prefer if you disentangled yourself from that infant."

"No."

_Well I had a feeling it wasn't gonna be that easy. _"Snake-san, with all due respect-"

"With all due respect," the snake said with… IS THAT CONTEMPT? GOD SNAKES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ASSHOLES BUT STILL YOU'D THINK HE'D TRY TO MEET ME HALF WAY HERE "you were not the one who summoned me to protect this infant… she did." He said nodding his head to the infant who was still tapping the back of the snakes head.

"Hiraki summoned you? The baby? The baby with no knowledge of ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, genjutsu, or any other type of jutsu, pulled you away from the summons world and brought you here to protect her." The snake merely nodded his head at this. Sarutobi brought his hand to the bridge of his nose, already beginning to feel the onset of a stress headache. _Oh kami, sometimes being an advisor to the hokage is just the worst, as if it weren't already going to be hard enough to find a family for a regular little one, but now she has a talking snake bodyguard. That's weird even by ninja standards._

"Would you like to hold her?" the snake intoned, "It is my understanding that human children were sssupposssed to be sssshown affection, but the nursssesss here sssemed to be disssheartened at her presssence."

"Are you going to remove yourself from her arm?"

"No."

"Are you going to bite me?" He said as he narrowed his eyes at the STILL VERY VENOMOUS snake.

"Do you intend her harm?"

"Of course not! She is a child of Konoha, and as such she is my family and responsibility." Sarutobi said with more anger in his tone than he had probably intended.

The snake turned its head back to the smiling infant and laid its reptilian head across her chest. "Then you have nothing to worry about from me." The snake flicked its tongue out contentedly as Hikari finally got down just how the petting motion was supposed to work out.

Sarutobi slowly and tentatively lifted Hikari out from her nursery crib and lifted her up in order to get his first good look at the child who was doubtlessly going to be a little bundle of trouble for him and Minato. Her skin was very pale, and despite the baby fat, she had very defined cheekbones, and a little button of a nose. The child's smile crinkled the skin around her eyes as she gurgled happily. And that was when he saw her eyes, deep pools of black and on the very outskirts a small tinge of gold… no, it was yellow. Her eyes became very focused, as if she were thinking incredibly critically and attempting to come up with a solution to a very big problem that lay right in front of her.

She extended her hand, face straining with effort to reach for Sarutobi's face and lightly pushed in his nose. Hikari began to gurgle happily, and Mamoru did what Sarutobi assumed was the reptilian equivalent of a chuckle. Even Sarutobi couldn't help but have a smile spread across his face. _I have never seen a child's eyes so singularly focused. The pale skin, the snake, the defined cheekbones, the yellow tint in the outskirts of her eyes, she's the spitting image of Orochimaru, but that just can't be. He didn't particularly display interest in women, how could this be? _

He would have to keep a very close eye on this little one. If she was anything like her father. Sarutobi let out an involuntary shudder as he cradled the fragile head of what might be his next huge mistake. He slowly placed the child back into her crib and bid goodbye to Mamoru and explained to the nurses on duty that there was a talking snake in the nursery, but not to freak out because it was protecting Hikari.

One of the nurses passed out.

_I suppose that she is probably going to end up at the orphanage, but I still should inform Minato of this immediately._

* * *

><p>Hikari looked at the wrinkled face in front of her and began creating solutions to who this individual was here. <em>Is mama? <em>She posited the question to the creature that had spoken to her mind only moments ago about things she didn't even begin understand.

_No, the old man is not your nest mother, I am afraid that she is gone, but I am still here to protect and nurture you. _The creature who had introduced himself as Mamoru said directly depositing the information into her mind.

_Can touch? _She began to lift her hand out in a very concentrated effort, but she wouldn't do it unless he gave her the ok. _Mamoru knows everything?_

_I suppose you may touch him, he seems to have good intentions, even if he is a bit easily flustered. _Mamoru proposed, knowing full well how much the hatchling had wanted to poke.

She excitedly poked at the protrusion on the man's face and let out an excited gurgle. _Did touch! _She exclaimed proudly. When the old man gently placed her back into her resting place, she contentedly lay her hand across the Mamoru's head and began to slowly stroke it back and forth. _Is good? _

Mamoru flickered his tongue out happily. _Yes, very. But you must sleep. You will need energy for growth. We will talk more later._

_Ok, Mamoru! _She said with a smile

_Call me Mamoru-kun, it is important to use the proper honorifics when addressing someone directly, we will work more on it later. _ He told her kindly. As her heavy eye lids began to flutter shut, she realized that she had endured a rather wonderful first day of consciousness.

While they were in the hospital, Mamoru began to teach her letters, the proper way to address individuals, how she should behave while in public, and all the general rules of living within a shinobi village. Of course, even though she was a fast learner, she was hardly even one month old before she was released to an orphanage. So she really couldn't utilize any of this knowledge, but a lot of time alone together meant that she was able to extend her vocabulary extensively. She could eat and kinda, almost barely lift her head when she tried really hard. Her knowledge of how to move just did not seem to compute with her body being able to comply with her, which was beyond frustrating.

By the end of the third month, she was talking to Mamoru in (mostly) complete sentences. Anything that came out of her mouth was pretty much just mindless baby talk, but she was working on articulating so that the women who worked in the nursery of the orphanage she was living in could understand that she wanted food. Granted, it didn't work, but she was making progress, and she was happy about that. She was able to sit up, with Mamoru's careful support of course, and finally get a bit of an understanding of her surroundings, the room was quite sizable and held several other small persons as well. She tried counting the way that Mamoru had taught her, she had forgotten the number 8, but had gone all the way to 13. Mamoru informed her that she had forgotten a number, so he made her memorize EVEN MORE of the things.

It wasn't until the end of the end of her fifth month that she got control of most of her motion. She couldn't stand, but she could crawl around during play times. Most of her play time Mamoru utilized so that she could learn how to read. Which she took to with a gusto that even Mamoru hadn't expected. He would teach her the words as they went, and she would read the book to him. It was slow and a bit frustrating at times, but he was excited to note that by the end of the year she had read everything in the child area from "One Ninja, Two Ninja, Red Ninja, Blue Ninja" to "Gamabunta the Big Red Frog" (Mamoru snickered at the fact that they referred to him as a frog).

The nursery workers did not exactly understand the girl with the overprotective snake bodyguard… thing, and they were definitely ill at ease with her presence, but they fed her regularly with food that might not be considered good, but was at least digestible. Mamoru found a thriving rat community in the area (which he was both pleased and disconcerted with). He would only ever leave Hikari's side to hunt, and even then he was not gone for very long. To the casual observer, she was just a quiet baby girl that had a really creepy sentient pet… even by shinobi standards it was weird, but definitely not the craziest thing in existence… she hoped.

By her eighth month, she had finally gotten the enunciating part of speaking down and decided that her first words spoken to the world would be "brother snake." Although he was inordinately happy that she had chosen her first words to be about him, he noticed that the staff seemed to be almost terrified of the development. She didn't really care though, and decided that she didn't really like talking that much anyways. She was perfectly content with her days spent reading, coloring, and even learning some of the more basic math.

By the end of her first year she had already read everything in the orphanage so many times that she felt that she could recite them from memory. Although they were helpful during her developmental stages, they were boring, and she wanted to read things that had more than an illustration followed immediately by 2 lines of text telling her what was in the illustration. Life at the orphanage grew boring, she wasn't entertained by her other drooling compatriots.

_Hey, Mamoru-Kun, do you think you can get us some better books? I'm itching to learn new things, and if I read about how big Gamabunta is one more time I think I'm gonna snap. _Hikari pleaded.

_How do you expect me to carry a book for us to read? I do not have arms. You will have to ask them to bring you more books._

_But talking to people is just the WORST. My stupid mouth doesn't say things right, and they act like everything I do is in some way scary. _Hikari huffed after she said it, hoping that maybe that would have gotten her point across, she doubted it though.

_You'll never improve your speech if you refuse to talk to people. Go ask them if you could speak to the Hokage, he probably has access to good books. _

She slowly and carefully rose herself from her sitting position and wobbled her way across the room ,with a little bit of a push from Mamoru now and then to help expedite the process. When she reached the tall black-haired young woman, she lightly pulled on her pants leg. When she looked down at the pale little snake girl, which was what she was often referred to when they thought she didn't hear or understand them, she panicked, but made sure not to make any movement that would offend her. Hikari gestured for her to lean over and pick her up, and the young woman hesitantly lifted her up and placed her on her hip. When she was hefted onto the ladies hip, she cupped her hand to the ladies ear and said somewhat brokenly but entirely understandably. "Lady-sama, would you please take us to go see Hokage-Sama." And proceeded to pull her head away a little bit to smile at her a bit too enthusiastically for the young woman to be very comfortable.

_You need to work on your smiles, show less teeth, you are intimidating her. _After she had made a few of her corrections the woman seemed to calm, if only slightly. _See, we are improving our social interactions, we will get this down._

"uhhh, sure…" she replied hesitantly, face nearly as pale as Hikari's. "We will go visit him as soon as you'd like." She attempted to smile reassuringly, but was so terrified she expelled what sounded more like something someone would call a "meep."

_Mamoru-Kun, she is still scared. We need to get a better smile.  
><em>

_We will work on that later, give her a hug and say thank you first, she has agreed to assist us and as such deserves recompense. _Hikari quickly obliged and that seemed to make most of the fear drain itself from the young woman's face. She still made very careful steps to avoid the three foot long and extraordinarily venomous snake that hovered around the little girl.

"What is your name, Lady-Sama?" Hiraki inquired, if she was going to try to make new friends, she might as well just go all out with it.

"Oh, Kimichi Uchiha." She replied as she walked them out of the orphanage and into the busy streets of Konoha. Hikari had never seen so many people, walking around the dusty road that ran down the length of Konoha. Their expressions people had as they walked varied from determined to lazy. Such a wide range of human emotion, she didn't know how she would memorize them all.

_Oh kami, Mamoru, do I have to interact with all of these? There's so many people here! Do I have to interact with all of them? _She whined as she put her head into Kimichi's shoulder. The crowd seemed to part before them as the snake lead its way towards Hokage Tower.

_Hikari, I think we should work towards a couple of smaller goals before we try to introduce ourselves to the entire village. _He paused for a moment before continuing. _Perhaps we should try something a bit smaller. For example, let's try to be on our best behavior for the Hokage. We should make a good first impression._

_Hai. _They entered the tower where the Fourth Hokage was residing. They walked up to the reception area where Kimichi informed the front desk that she had someone that the Hokage would like to be introduced to. After showing him her identification and having it verified, the ninja behind the front desk took them up the stairs to the small area outside of the Hokage's offce and told them to wait there for the next available time that he was available.

They had to wait for about fifteen minutes in the curved hallway before the Hokage had an available time slot in order to meet with his unexpected guest. A muffled "Come on in" emanated from the door and Kimichi opened the door to let Hikari walk in on her own.

* * *

><p>Minato heaved a bit of a sigh. <em>Oh god, why did I ever think being Hokage would be fun? <em>He looked over at the mountain of paperwork he still needed to get finished. _Well, I might as well get this next meeting over with quickly. _"Come on in."

He looked over to see a baby girl standing in his doorway, she was small, with very pale skin and high cheekbones, her eyes seemed sharp and intelligent taking careful but not exactly confident steps forward before she stopped a small ways in front of his desk and attempted to give him a small bow before she fell forward and landed on her belly. There was an audible smack as Mamoru connected his tail with his forehead and began slowly shaking his head back and forth _Oh kami, that's adorable. _Minato tried to suppress a grin, but couldn't help himself.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama." She said trying to keep herself from turning red. "I was hoping to make a request."

Minato eyed her quizzically. _How old is this little one? She seems to have just recently gotten down walking, but she doesn't seem sure footed. However, her sentence structure and enunciation are much better than would be expected from a child her size. _"You may do so at your leisure." His intense eyes did not waver from her while he waited for her to begin speaking.

"We were hoping to have more books to read." She met his gaze and waited for his response.

"We?" He tore his gaze from the pale girl and moved it to the Uchiha. "You and your teacher here? I thought the orphanage had several children's books."

"No, Hokage-sama." Hikari replied quickly. "Me and Mamoru were hoping for something that could be more useful for teaching. We've already read all the books that the orphanage has to offer."

_Mamoru and I…_

_Shut up, I'm trying to get us something to read._ She turned her head to glare at Mamoru who had coiled himself behind her.

"Who is Mamoru?" Minato looked around the room, but since the only other thing there was the three foot long snake; he had assumed he was just another child at the orphanage who was also inordinately intelligent.

"That'sss me." Mamoru uncoiled himself and slithered his way up Hikari to lie on her shoulders. "It'sss a pleasssure to meet you. Hokage-Sama."

If Minato was surprised by this he made an excellent job of not showing it. "I see, this is very interesting to say the least." Minato paused for a moment sizing up the interaction that had just taken place in front of him. He folded his hands and placed them in front of his mouth. "I suppose we could send some other stories, is there anything in particular you'd like?"

"Math and history stuff please." Hikari gave him the biggest grin she could possibly summon.

"I'll throw in some paper and pencils for you to use so you can practice. I am expecting great things from you. You seem to be extraordinarily bright. Come by when you need more texts, and if you come across a problem I'm sure your caretaker here will be more than happy to help."

"Hai." Both of them said simultaneously

"Thank you so much Hokage-sama, I'll work extra hard." Hikari thought about trying to bow again, but then didn't really want to embarrass herself in front of the Hokage again, so instead she nodded as respectfully as she could.

Minato got up from his seat, picked up Hikari, and held her to his side. "I will return with you to the orphanage. This has been the most interesting part of my day so far, and I'd much rather continue talking to you, Hikari, than do that paperwork over there." He turned his head to her and when he looked she seemed to have a very intense look on her face. As if she were contemplating doing something very important.

_Can touch?_

_I probably wouldn't. I realize you like to "boop" people's noses to show friendship, but let's not push our luck. Actually, I don't recall ever teaching you that that was how we made friends. _

Hikari laughed, and together they made their way from the Hokage Tower to the orphanage. It was the most she had ever spoken in her entire life.

_I like Hokage-Sama, he is nice, and he isn't afraid of snakes, and he has spiky hair, and he is cool, and he let us have books, and he and he walked us home, and-_

_I understand child, you can stop now. I know very well how much you like the man. I like him too, I hope he stays in power for a long time coming._

* * *

><p>Over the next few months, she poured over her studies. Receiving scrolls and books for every topic from mathematics to chakra theory. As such a young child, her chakra coils were not developed enough that she could channel it, but she got in practice with meditating, and memorizing the location of all 361 tenketsu points on the human body. Any time that was not devoted to her books or to sleep, she devoted to getting stronger. Little exercises she used in order to not stunt her growth, but also make it so that she didn't wobble around the room when she tried to move from place to place.<p>

Mamoru grew as well, when he and Hikari were first introduced he was little more than a foot in length, but he now stretched to a whopping 5 feet in length, but he was still rather thin, only about 6-7 inches in diameter at the base of his head. Hikari couldn't even come close to carrying him anymore, but everyone at the orphanage knew that he wouldn't hurt them. That being said they still gave him a pretty severely wide berth.

One night, when she was just a little more than a year old, Mamoru woke her up in the dead of night, _the air tastes wrong, bad things are happening. Something very dangerous is headed this way._

As if on cue, the entire building began to shake, and Hikari began to taste what it was that Mamoru was talking about. It tasted like death and ozone, like the very air itself was rejecting the presence of something unnatural.

The tremors began to grow more and more severe, and they were being forced to evacuate the area. She ran, ran as fast as she could from whatever monster was creating impact tremors with the very earth. Until, she heard the creaking sound of splintering wood and turned to see a house lean forwards, as if it were trying to consume her.

And then she saw no more.

* * *

><p>Hikari opened her eyes, but all she saw was a deep and opressive darkness.<p>

But she wasn't being squashed like a pancake. _I mean, I'm not complaining here that we haven't been crushed to death Mamoru… but I'd like to know where we are. This place doesn't taste like Konoha. _The air here was warm but stale, but without a single light, it was impossible for her to ascertain her location. She was laying down on some form of relatively smooth stone, but other than that, she was at a loss for stimuli.

_I took us from a place where death was inevitable to a place where it is merely very likely that we will die. _

_Oh, well aren't you just a saint. _She replied with only a hint of bitterness to her tone.

_I don't remember teaching you sarcasm._

_Oh please, you don't teach people sarcasm. It is ingrained into our very souls. _She replied giggling just a little bittoo enthusiastically.

_We have to remain completely quiet otherwise He might notice we are here. _Mamoru said, the fear he held was palpable.

"Who have you brought into my domain?" posited a voice that was as deep as it was terrifying.

_Oh shit._

_Language Mamoru-Kun. That is one of the naughty words._

Suddenly, the sconces along the walls of the chamber they had found themselves roared to life. They were in a clearing of rock, Hikari assumed that they were underground. That would explain the staleness of the air. The clearing that they found themselves in was massive. This was not really what caught her attention however, because they were not alone. In front of her was the largest snake that Hikari had seen in her entire life… no, not just the largest snake, the largest thing! He was monolithic in size, purple with a solid black underbelly, as well as black bands going down the length of his body.

"WOW!" Hikari said in absolute awe of this gargantuan creature. "YOU'RE EVEN BIGGER THAN GAMABUNTA THE BIG RED FROG! YOU'RE EVEN PURPLE INSTEAD OF THAT UGLY WARTY RED THAT HE WAS. YOU'VE GOT TO BE THE BIGGEST AND BESTEST THING EVER!" She stared up excitedly at him with a twinkle in her and her fists clenched in front of her, like she was ready to get up and start dancing. "YOU MUST BE THE BOSS SNAKE! DOES THAT MAKE YOU THE KING OF ALL SNAKES? I'M SORRY! I SHOULD BE BOWING IF THAT'S THE CASE!" Hikari immediately got down on her knees and planted her face to the ground. It was obvious that she was trying very hard (but failing) to contain herself.

There was an audible slap as Mamoru connected his face with the end of his tail while he tried to make himself look as small as possible.

It looked like the giant snake didn't even know how to respond to her outburst. Was she not afraid? She looked like she'd just witness the greatest entity in the universe, obviously Manda thought this was a foregone conclusion, he was uncontestably the best thing in the universe, but most people who saw him wet themselves in fear. Still, it was nice to be reminded of the fact that his presence demanded respect and admiration.

Seconds pass as he stares at her. The silence is so intense you could hear a pin drop.

"Mamoru, why have you brought me this hatchling?" He turned his head away from the little girl who had just finished praising him to the snake that was coiled at her feet. "I do not recall us signing a summoning contract with a child, and I do not appreciate surprises. You are lucky that I have eaten recently or else I would consume the both of you for your impudence."

Mamoru attempted to sputter out a reply "well… uh… umm… You sssee, Tousssan… Manda the Great, I believe ssshe isss sssnake-kin, because ssshe sssummoned me to her to protect her when ssshe had barely even been alive for 8 hoursss, and has maintained my sssummoning for a little over a year."

Manda seemed to consider this for a moment. "Snake-kin you say? So the two of you were mentally bound at the time of her birth?" Mamoru nodded vigorously. "There has not been a snake-kin for almost 250 years… show me her seal." Hikari lifted up her head and stood before Manda before she turned the back of her right hand to him showing the kanji that declared Mamoru her partner and smiled. He moved his face very close to Hiraki's position, so close she could almost reach out and touch his enormous scaly head.

_Can touch?_

_Absolutely not, he will kill us both where we stand if we touch him without his express approval._

_You don't stand Mamoru-Kun, dont be silly. Papa Manda is not a hugger. I can appreciate that, he is still really cool._

"Very well, if she is our kin, then I do not see why we shouldn't sign a contract with the hatchling. She shows very excellent taste aesthetic taste, Gamabunta is repulsive." He added with what can only be described as the snake equivalent of a smirk. "I will accept you into our contract." A massive scroll that was almost as wide as she was appeared before her of the other snake summoners who had signed before her. The scroll must have been ancient, it smelled a bit like the cave, but it was pristinely clean. "Write your name in your blood and then press your fingers down at the bottom." She cautiously began writing out her name in her blood

"Excuse me, Manda-Sama the Great? I do not think I have a last name… I'm an orphan." She said as she looked down sullenly. It almost looked like there was the beginning of tears in her eyes.

"You said yourself that you were snake-kin did you not?" She nodded, but didn't look up. "Then you will have my clan's family name. It is Hebi." She looked up with him tears of joy welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill over. "I do not have all day, my time is precious hatchling. Get on with it."

Hikari excitedly wrote down her now complete name. When she place her fingerprints at the bottom of the page she looked up at him once again. "May I ask you one final question?" Her eyes were so full of excitement and hope, and her body language almost made her look like she was spring loaded

Manda looked agitated, but nodded his consent. "If Mamoru is my serpentine-Oniisan, does that make you my serpentine-Tousan?"

Manda was quiet long enough for Mamoru to smack himself in the face with his tail again. Manda immediately erupted into raucous laughter, reverberating the very cave around them with the intensity of his voice. "I will allow it, hatchling. So long as you never forget my greatness."

"I wouldn't be able to, you're like the best thing in the history of forever!" she said hopping excitedly

"Thank you for being so patient and understanding with us." Mamoru bowed his head in respect and wrapped his way up Hikari until he lounged comfortably over her shoulder. _Let us leave, we would not want to overstay our welcome more than we have already._

_I think he likes me. _Hikari couldn't stop smiling. _This is such a great day, I got a summoning contract, a last name, and a serpentine-Tousan. I think this totally wins for best day of our collective lives. Eh, Mamoru-Kun?_

She felt herself being torn back to their original position in Konoha. Eager to return home and tell Hokage-Sama everything that had happened. She looked around to see Konoha, burning and in shambles.


	2. Chapter 2

AUTHORS NOTE:

Greetings and salutations readers, I don't really have much of an update schedule planned, but I'll be trying to get out a chapter every couple of days or so. ILY guys. Oh god, you have no idea how badly I want to just skip all this and go straight to the chunin exams, BUT THE CHARACTERS MUST DEVELOP... damn characters and their need to be fleshed out in a story. ANYWAYS, please enjoy :D

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><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Ch 2

The dust from the rubble began to sting her eyes. Her home. All of her memories were here and it was reduced to nothing in the short time she was gone. "Who did this?" she asked to no one in particular. _We have to go to the Hokage, he is smart; he'll know what it is that we need to do! _

_Hikari-Chan, we need to find a place for shelter, it is late and I do not know if the thing that did this to our home is still out there. We should head further into town, but I do not think the Hokage will be in his office, not with the town like this._

And so, they made their way through the rubble that they had called home. The destruction was vast, entire sections of the city had been crushed and destroyed. Cries of those who were suffering could be heard from every direction, but what could she do? All of the information she had acquired did not help her when she found herself in this situation.

_Oniichan, how can we help? These people are brood-clan are they not? We can't just leave all these people to suffer, but I don't know what to do. _Tears began roll down her face, creating small trails across the dust that now coated her face.

_Imouto, do you really believe that everyone in the city is brood-clan?_

_Why wouldn't they? We live in the same places, eat the same food, play the same games, and serve the same Hokage. Konoha is our home, which means that these are our people. _Her tears continued to fall to the ground. _If I cannot help our family then I am not worthy of them._

_You have swayed me. You and I will summon Kiruko, he is a rather large snake-brother, but I believe he will help us. He always was a bit of a softy. Do you remember all of the seals that I taught you? _

Hikari rubbed the tears out of her eyes. _Hai, what is the order I need to do it in to create a proper summons?_

As Mamoru went through the sequences of hand signs that would be required in order for the summons to be complete he lent her some of his chakra.

_Now bite your thumb, and put your bleeding finger to the ground in order to summon him._

_What?_

_All summons require a little bit of blood in order to make them work._

She held out her hand_. Can you do that for me? I don't like the idea of self-mutilation._

There was an all too familiar smack of tail on face before Mamoru began to open his mouth and carefully brought his fang to Hikari's thumb and drew her blood. He was extra careful to avoid using any of his venom in his bite.

She brought her hand down and immediately felt a significant portion of her strength leave her. Her arms felt like they were being weighed down by lead, and her knees gave out from under her.

"Are you the one that summoned me here little one?"The voice was soft, but strong, it didn't really exude the serpentine quality that most other snakes gave of when they spoke to her. When she looked up her eyes began to take in the 60-foot brown snake with a speckled white lower half and two rows of small black diamonds leading their way from his head to tail.

_Wow Mamoru-Kun you are getting less impressive by the hour._

_Wow, that's so rude Imouto. _Mamoru gave her sad eyes while he said this.

"Hai, that was me and Mamoru-Kun. Would you please help us move the survivors and wounded? They are brood-clan and need our help!" She looked up at him pleadingly.

"Hmm… all of these are your brood-clan? There are quite a lot in need of assistance, but I suppose I can be of use to you. Lead on hatchling, I am at your service."

They spent all night clearing rubble moving rubble and assisting the relief efforts around town. Granted at first, the survivors were pretty terrified at the idea of riding on the back of a giant snake, and about as often as you'd expect when Kiruko would push rubble out of the way and clear the way for someone trapped they would say something along the lines of "Damn it, I survived the collapse of the building and now I'm going to be eaten by a giant snake instead. Why, Kami, why!" Hikari sat on Kiruko's back and helped to direct him to and from the hospital. She saw so much death, pain, and grief, but each one she was able to save made her feel like a small weight had been lifted from her heart. That even though she was small, she still had her part to play.

When the night was done and all of her energy was spent, she released Kiruko's summoning and walked her way to the Hokage tower. She ignored the gasps of the people around her; she was far too tired for pleasantries. She opened the door to the Hokage's office, upon finding it empty she curled up on the couch in the corner. Mamoru wrapped himself around her and used his body as a makeshift pillow for her to sleep on. _I can tell Hokage-Sama about our adventure as soon as he gets back. You don't think he'll mind if I fall asleep while we wait do you?_

_You've had a long night little one. I'm sure he won't mind if we close our eyes for a bit. _Hikari fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

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><p>It was midday before Sarutobi had a chance to walk towards his successor's office. The Kyuubi was contained, but not without a monumental sacrifice. Part of the village was destroyed, their Hokage had sacrifice himself in order to keep his people safe, and Naruto… Naruto lost his mother as well. There were a lot more orphans in Konoha today.<p>

As he opened the door to Minato's office, he wouldn't even had guessed anything was out of place. The same desk, same chair, same pile of papers, same couch, same sleeping girl with a snake, he wouldn't even have known Minato was gone forever if he hadn't seen it… Wait. One of those things was not the usual for the office.

_Is that Hikari? _His eyes began to focus on the dusty, pale little girl. She had scratches on her hands and knees and her fingernails were covered in dirt. _Was she digging around in the rubble? That is far too dangerous for someone so young._

Hikari began to shudder a little and turned to face him. She lifted her head up sleepily. "Hello, have you seen Hokage-Sama? I was waiting for him to tell him a story, but I fell asleep." She began to rub some of the sleep out of her eyes.

Sarutobi's eyes filled with grief. "I am sorry little one, but he is gone."

"Do you know when he is coming back?" she intoned innocently. She looked into the old man's eyes and saw his grief magnify.

_He is saying he is dead little one. He will not be returning._

Her eyes began to fill with tears. "But, he said… he said that if I ever wanted to talk to come by and that he'd be here… He can't have died, there is so many cool things that I have to tell him." Her tears began to fall to the floor and she balled her fists into the cushion of the couch. "He can't be gone, he was my favoritest person I'd ever met."

Sarutobi walked towards Hikari and picked her up in his arms. "I understand your grief Hikari, trust me I do. I have lost so many people that I hold dear. Friends and family gone forever in the blink of an eye. Do you know how we can remember them, child?" His own voice was laced with grief and understand.

She sniffled. "No…"

"We honor what it is they sacrificed themselves for. Minato loved this village and everyone in it, he died to ensure our village had a future. As long as we remember what it was that he fought for, as long as our village stands, he will never be truly gone." He began to pat her softly on the back. "Do you understand?"

"I think so. What do I do now? The orphanage has been destroyed, and I have nowhere else to go."

"You can stay here for the next few days, it may get a bit busy what with repairs and damage control, but if I get a break I would love to hear the story you had."

"Is there something I can do to help?"

"I heard that there was a large snake moving debris and transporting injured to the hospitals last night… That wasn't your doing was it?" She looked up at him with a big smile on her face. "I think you have done plenty to help so far. I'll have Meiko come and bring by something for you to do while you wait."

The next few days were a blur of activity, but it only took them a few months to repair most of the damage that was done to the city center. She continued to spend those days reading or exercising, or talking to the old man about her coloring. He seemed to take a vested interest in the development of the little girl and loved to talk to her about the village's history, fond stories of days gone by, and the Will of Fire.

She liked the old man, he was smart and new everyone who came to his door by name. After two months spent with the new-old Hokage (she didn't exactly understand how it worked, he was the third, but the other Hokage was the fourth, but three comes before four… crazy) she moved back into the orphanage.

It might not have been as enjoyable as the time she spent with the Sandaime, but she was left to her solitude while she read her books and did her exercises. It was largely the same routine without much change for years. The other kids usually avoided her because she was frightening, and she did not go out searching for companionship because books were more interesting than the people here.

She would visit the Hokage every so often to keep him appraised of her situation, and whether or not the books she was reading were helpful, but it wasn't until her sixth birthday that the Hokage sent a message for her to meet him in his office post-haste.

She carefully opened the door to the Hokage's office. She looked in to see the same old man with a sparkle of kindness in his eyes. "You asked to see me Hokage-Sama?" She gave a short bow.

"My, my, look how you've grown, how is Mamoru doing?" He said genuinely pleased to see her. She really had grown quite a lot, she was 4 feet tall which put her somewhere in the taller-than-most column for 6 year olds in that category.

"He has gotten big and fat, he hasn't hit his really big growth spurt yet, so he's only ten feet long, but I hope he stretches out a little, I don't want him to end up being as long as he is wide." She gave him a polite smile.

_I can still hear you, you know. I swear every day you get more rude. Where did I go wrong?_

_Oh relax, Mamoru-Kun, you know you are going to appreciate this one day. It builds character._

_That's something people say to their kids so that they stop complaining…_

_I know._

Sarutobi chuckled. "Congratulations on your sixth birthday, I have good news for you." She looked at him inquisitively. "Starting next month, you will join the academy. You will also get your own small living area, so that you can move out of the orphanage and live closer to your school."

Hikari sprinted towards the very surprised Hokage and gave him the biggest hug she could muster. "Thank you Hokage-Sama, thank you, thank you! THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO TO GET READY! I NEED TO READY MY THINGS!" She began running out of the room as quickly as possible.

"Hey, wait you forgot your…" and she's outta here. "present… she doesn't even know which apartment block she is moving to. I suppose I'll give it to her when she comes back to get her key. I swear this girl oscillates between calm and collected to intensely excited… Who am I talking to?"

Hikari was hardly gone for 20 minutes before Sarutobi heard a knocking on the door and detected a familiar chakra presence on the other side. "Did you come by because you realized you didn't know where you were going and that you don't have a house key?"

There was a pregnant pause. "…Maybe."

"Come in." she walked in and gave him her best bow she could muster. "Here is your key, you are in apartment block C room 202, there is a communal dinner every other Thursday, you will have a small budget for food and equipment, also for the first few weeks I'll have someone look in on you to make sure you are feeding yourself properly. Before you leave though, I did manage to get you a present to commemorate this occasion." He held out a small box with two lines of green ribbon intersecting at the middle and tied of in a rather elaborate bow.

"Hokage-sama, I don't know what to say, you've done so much for me and fatty," _HEY "_I promise I'm gonna be the hardest working student in the whole class." She quickly opened up the box and took out the gift that lay within. It was a forest green kunai pouch, with fine leather straps, embroidered on the face of the pouch in black was a snake with its mouth opened, the button that held the pouch closed had the insignia of the village hidden in the leave on it. She held it up and began attaching it to her right hip. After a few seconds of adjustments it fit perfectly. "I love it, it's so cool!" She gave him another hug. "I'm gonna go practice my throwing!" She poked the tip of his nose and ran out of the room excitedly.

"I don't think I am ever going to understand why it is that she does that." He smirked and then returned his attention to the ever-present mountain of paper work to his right. "I've been working here for 5 years now, and that stack hasn't gotten any lower." He dejectedly began reading through the reports he had left to read. It was going to be another long day.

* * *

><p>The month leading up to her first day of school kept her very busy. Adding learning how to cook and clean, to her regular day to day activities did not leave a lot of room for free-time. Some of the books she borrowed from the Hokage now involved intermediate level mathematics, applied physics, low level chakra control, and recipe books. The first week's experimentation of food preparation was not exactly what most people would call appetizing… as a matter of fact most wouldn't have even called it edible, but she began to learn and adapt recipes to something that suited her tastes. She kept Mamoru in her apartment, she wasn't exactly sure where the student complex stood in regards to having a 10 foot venomous snake as a roommate, but what they don't know can't hurt them.<p>

Hikari decided that it would probably be a good idea to not bring Mamoru to class with her, he was too big to be coiled around her desk.

_But I wanna be there to support you! My little baby on her first day of school. OH THEY GROW UP SO FAST! _Mamoru began dramatically swinging his head around the room in order to add emphasis to his dismay.

_Oh kami, Mamoru-Kun just wait outside or something. If we stay any longer I might be late. _She leaned over and kissed him on the head, followed by a light poke on his… nose? Snout? Slits? _I love you, see you after school._

She ran out the door with her school supplies in hand, and made it to her classroom with five minutes to spare. Now, where does she sit? There were already little social groups developing around the room. The only person she saw who was sitting alone was a girl with long, silky black hair and purple eyes. There was a small group of girls staring at her from a small distance away, but Hikari had no idea what that was supposed to mean. She walks over to the black haired girl and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Hikari is this seat taken?"

She let out a rather masculine grunt, but Hikari just assumed that the seat wasn't and sat down next to her new desk mate. She looked over to where the girls had been giggling earlier and noticed that their attention was now fully devoted to her, and they were not happy. They were glaring daggers at her. _Oh no, what did I do? I've only been in class for a minute and I've already made enemies. Don't worry, just try to make a friend to balance it out. _She turned to the person sitting next to her and put on the smile that Mamoru and her had been working on for months. "What's your name?"

"Neji Hyuga." _Oh my kami, he is a she. HOW IS HIS HAIR SO MUCH NICER THAN MINE? I wonder what shampoo and conditioner he uses… what if he gets it done professionally? He is kinda cute, even if he doesn't really talk much._

_I can hear all of this by the way, just in case you were wondering Hikari. Thought you should know._

_Mamoru-Kun, I'm working on making friends here. It is a lot harder than you would expect. _"Your hair is really long, what kind of shampoo do you use?"

"Tch. He turned his head away from her and proceeded to ignore anything she did. _I changed my mind, I don't like him. The smug little shit._

_Language, that's a naughty word._

Hikari placed her head on her desk. _Oh just please don't make this be any worse. Let my other desk mate be someone normal who can carry on a conversation._

A kid with inordinately bushy eyebrows stood next to her. "Hello, my name is Rock Lee. I would like to sit here. I am going to show this academy that I can be a TRUE NINJA!" He pumped his hand into the air and sat down staring ahead attentively.

_OH COME ON! Is this how you are gonna do me universe? Stuck in the middle of Bushy Brows and Miss Smug. _

At this time, their teacher walked into the class. He was about five feet eight inches tall, with broad shoulders and a small scar running along the length of his chin. "Hello class, My name is Karubo Karizake. You may refer to me as Karizake-Sensei. That is the only title I will accept. I am going to be your instructor for your years here at the academy. I am going to train you to be a proper shinobi, and if you prove yourself to be one of the best, you will join the ranks of the genin. Today, I'm going to be doing assessments of your physical and have you take a general intelligence test, that way I can know what it is that I am working with."

The intelligence assessment was a breeze, basic history and mathematical knowledge with a small amount of the ninja code sprinkled in. The physical assessment was a bit more taxing, it involved endurance testing, basic combat skills, as well as weapons throwing. Hikari was pretty deadly accurate with her senbon (it was her preferred ranged weapon), but her shuriken and kunai had a tendency to go a bit off course. She was still better than most of the other students though.

Once the assessments were scored and compiled into a list, they stapled it up for the students to see their scores. Hikari scored the highest in the class on her intelligence test, and was the second highest in the class when her physical skills were evaluated. Her smug desk mate was 1st in physical and 2nd in intelligence. When Neji noticed that he wasn't first in intelligence as well as the physical he gave her an icy glare.

_Mamoru-Kun, I think I made a rival… I was trying to make friends here, and all I've done is the exact opposite. What am I supposed to do now?_

_Next time the two of you are in a competition, be sure to kick his butt. I'm not positive, but I am fairly certain that's how rivalries are supposed to go down. _

They were dismissed for the day, so Hikari returned to the training grounds to practice her speed and endurance training for an hour, before moving to the tree post to work on her strength training for another hour. When she was finally finished, she sat down and looked at the clouds in the sky. Her eyelids became heavy and she fell into a peaceful doze.

She felt herself being nudged lightly. Still being mostly asleep, she waved off whatever it was and let out a moan. "Fine." She opened her eyes to see the long haired boy looking down at her… what was his name? Neji or something weird like that. "What can I help you with?" She inquired not at all enthusiastically.

"I want to spar, you are second in the class in physical ability, I want to see how large the gap between you and me really is." His face mostly expressionless, but she did sense that he was a little upset about having to explain himself to her.

She looked up at the sky again in order to gauge just how long she had been asleep. It couldn't have been more than just thirty minutes since her workout. "You'll be at an advantage, I've already expended a good chunk of chakra while I was training. 'A shinobi must know when and where to choose his battles.' I'm pretty sure that's the gist of that part of the code at least."

"You would be at a disadvantage regardless."

She looked up at him. "Would you mind taking one step to the right? You're a little in the way of my cloud watching." He looked at her incredulously. "I'm not asking you to run a marathon here, alright? It is literally one step." He rather grudgingly moved his position slightly to the right, and when he did so, she turned her body around so that she kicked his legs out from under him and then used her momentum to swing herself so that she straddled the boy who was now on his back. She held a kunai to his neck. "Why would you ever do exactly what your opponent wants? I'm pretty sure that's a rule in one of our textbooks."

His eyes were full of barely contained rage. "But you-"

"Played you like a fool? Yes." She poked his nose with her free hand and then proceeded to lean down and kiss him on the cheek. He blushed a rather intense shade of crimson as she got off of him and began walking away. "See you tomorrow Neji-Kun." She lifted her arm up and waved behind her, leaving an incredibly confused Hyuga in her wake.

_What was that about?_

_I made a friend._

_Oh, I'm sure he appreciates that. Look, you are far too young to be dealing with boys right now, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO THINK THEY HAVE COOTIES!_

_We will see tomorrow, I'm gonna have to try some varying methods to making new friends. I think I'll call that one frenemies._

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><p>The next morning, Hikari had to run into the school building as fast as she could in order to avoid being tardy to her class. Even with her sprinting, she barely made it into the classroom before the bell signaling the start of class rang. She exhaled a sigh of relief and took her seat in between Neji and Lee.<p>

The next day class began with a rather basic lecture on history. Because she had already read the textbook twice already Hikari was absolutely bored out of her mind, so instead she began practicing her chakra control. She started by closing her eyes and focusing her energy. She then proceeded to attempt to scoot her pencil from one side of the desk to the other, using only her chakra.

"Hikari."

Hikari jumped up in surprise. "Hai! Karizake-sensei."

He looked at her with an intense glare. "Would you mind informing the class, as to what it was you were doing during my lecture?"

Hikari looked down. "I was… I was working on my chakra control by moving my pencil."

His eyes seemed to soften slightly when he heard her say this. "And why was it that you chose to do this instead of focusing at the task at hand?"

Hikari didn't look up. "Ummm… well, you see… Karizake-Sensei." She looked up at the man and gave him the smile that Mamoru and her had continued practicing last night (he figured smiling would be the best way to dissolve tension, and she was probably going to find herself at the epicenter of tension). "I have already read that book twice." His eyes immediately unsoftened, they were probably even angrier than they were when she hadn't said anything."

"Oh? Then I assume, that if I were to give you all of the tests for this textbook right now, that you would be able to ace every single one of them?" he seemed to be grinding his teeth together while he was saying this.

_Mamoru-Kun, I honestly can't even tell if this is a trap or not. _

_I think he is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself. _Hikari did not pick up on the subtle nonverbal cues that Mamoru was doing while he said this to indicate sarcasm (because he was still in her apartment).

"I probably could."

_AH! NO I WAS BEING SARCASTIC WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?_

_I DON'T KNOW WHAT IM DOING, I WAS GOING TO DO WHAT YOU TOLD ME TO! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE WISE ONE HERE!_

"You may do them while you are detained in detention for three full hours after class."

"Hai." Hikari sat down dejectedly and continued to use chakra pulses to move her pencil to and fro.

Their next class was their physical training, they ran three laps around the building before Karizake-Sensei paired all of the students up into groups and informed them that the individual standing in front of them would be their sparring partner for the year.

Hikari looked to see who her sparring partner was going to be for the next year. Of course… Neji Hyuga. He looked over her without even attempting to hide his contempt. "So, it seems you and I are to spar. I am determined to not let what happened yesterday repeat itself. I will not be tricked more than once." He walked forward into sparring range and immediately readied himself into a defensive stance, but it wasn't like any of the fighting styles that she had been practicing or researching.

Hikari gave him a little pout. "What's the matter, Neji-Kun? Didn't like my kiss?" She turned her head away from him and began quivering her bottom lip. He blushed and immediately tried to back away from her, opening up his defenses for just long enough for her to close the distance and punch him in the gut. He bent over and began coughing. "Oh, come now Neji-Kun. We are supposed to be sparring." She gave him one of the smiles that her and Mamoru had practiced. "You get tricked far too easily."

Neji got up and gave her the glare to end all glares. He stared at her and attempted to return his psyche to that of poise and elegance befitting a Hyuga… SCREW THAT. He immediately activated his Byakugan and went on the offensive.

_Huh, Mamoru-Kun, do you know of any combat tactic that involves making the area around your eyes veiny and gross? _She asked while attempting to block and dodge his thrusts, but he was fast, and every time he made contact with her arms, they began to tingle, as if they were falling asleep.

_Huh? I might, what's the name of the guy you are fighting?_

_Neji Hyuga! _She was completely on the defensive now, she couldn't exploit any openings that Neji had, and her arms were beginning to become very sore and heavy. Everything she was doing was just a little bit more sluggish than how she remembered.

_OH! That's the Byakugan. The Hyuga clan have an ocular Kekkei Genkai that essentially gives them super vision and allows them to see an individual's chakra network. They exploit this by attacking your chakra points directly in order to stem the flow of chakra to that area of the body. I believe they call it gentle fist or palm or hand… I don't know I don't have any of those. _

_How do you know that? _

_There are only so many Kekkei Genkai in Konoha, and I've tried to keep up my knowledge on all of them. I'd still be careful of that one if I were you, Byakugan can really do a number on you._

_Day late and a dollar short Mamoru. _If that was the case, she couldn't afford for the fight to continue going on any longer. All it would do is put her at an even more severe disadvantage. She had more physical strength than him, but he was faster and didn't need to make large concussive blows to deal his damage. Which meant she would have to open herself up to take a pretty severe hit if she wanted to deal some damage back. She intentionally wavered the defense of her left arm, allowing him to attack the chakra gate and close it off completely. He was so focused on exploiting the opening that he let himself get too close, and she connected her right fist into his chin, pushing him back and sending him spinning.

They were both breathing very heavily as they stared the other down. Karizake appeared between them. "Spars are restricted to the academy katas for the first year. You will be retaught the basics before you are allowed to move on into your own unique fighting style. I would give you a detention for failing to abide by the rules, but Hikari already has one." He glared over at her. "Your spar is complete, go visit the nurse and have her look over the both of you."

After a cursory examination by the school nurse, the shinobi-in-training were released for the day. Of course, she wasn't released. She still had three hours' worth of test taking to do as punishment for her crime of… what exactly had it been that she had done wrong? Maybe Karizake-Sensei was just an ass. The tests weren't particularly difficult, merely time consuming and dull and her hand was cramping from all the essays she had been forced to write.

Once she had given her tests to the proctor, she walked to her regular training spot and proceeded to do her usual speed, endurance, and strength training. Her spar with Neji had been a tentative tie, but she was not satisfied with that. She would learn how to use the gentle-whatever technique. She already knew the location of all 361 tenketsu points, and she understood that the technique relied on a small burst of chakra applied to these points that would either diminish chakra flow or shut it down entirely, but she would need someone to practice on.

That's when she noticed her other desk mate enthusiastically punching a tree making some sort of deal with the universe, that "If I cannot do at least 100 punches, then I will do 200 kicks." She watched him from a distance, observing his punches. His form was wrong, most of the kinetic force that he was applying was being wasted, and his hands were bent in such a way that his fist spent too much time connecting with the tree, diminishing the overall momentum of the punch as well.

"You're doing that wrong." She said as she walked forward. "If you want to be a good ninja you should at least now how to punch something, that's pretty basic."

_And you wonder why you don't have many friends?_

The bushy-browed boy turned to her and gave a slight bow. "Hello, Hikari-San. I am sorry I did not see you there. I was practicing my punches."

"I saw that, but your technique is inefficient, if you keep trying it like that, I'm pretty sure you'll end up breaking your wrist." _Look Mamoru-Kun, I was thinking of trying out a new friend making technique, I was gonna try to make him my training partner here. _

_Yea, yea, go you social butterfly spread your wings and be free._

_Shut up._

"Would you mind showing me the proper technique to use for me to not break my wrist, Hikari-San?" His eyes seemed aglow with excitement. What's this kid's problem? He is acting like the information I'm giving him is some secret that I'm deigning him worthy of… Maybe this isn't the best idea.

Despite her hesitation, she nodded her head, "I was hoping that perhaps we could train together and then do a little bit of sparring?" He nodded his head enthusiastically. "Fantastic! Let's get training Big Brows! We got a lot of work to do!"

He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead just nodded. "Hai! I may not have natural talent, but I will be the hardest working ninja in all of Konoha!" After she demonstrated the proper way for him to punch and kick, they begin their workout with a vengeance. Once they had done their 100 punches, Lee decided to do their 200 kicks anyway. And after the 200 kicks came the 150 squats. And after the 150 squats came the 20 laps around the Academy. And then another exercise. And then another. And another. And after that Hikari was exhausted. Lee looked drained, but determined to continue soldiering through. She respected that about him. He may be a little weird- ok a lot weird-, but his heart was in the right place.

"Lee-Kun, perhaps we should spar and then call it a day, I have to go home and feed Mamoru-Kun and myself." They got into their prospective stances, and Hikari attempted to emulate the posturing that Neji had earlier that day. She ignored the protesting soreness of her muscles. She refused to let a little thing like being sore keep her from her training.

And with that she began her assault, Rock Lee was much slower than Neji had been, and his defensive posturing was weak, which meant that even with her rather lackluster knowledge of how exactly she was supposed to make her chakra flow in order to close off his chakra gates, she still managed to land plenty of blows. This fighting style lacked the hard hitting power of a full strike, and was better suited to slowly disabling your opponent as far as she could tell. Lee's blows began to become weaker and weaker as she disabled the gates in his arms and legs (to the best of her ability, she couldn't actually see the gates in question so she just assumed that instead of completely shutting them down she was more along the lines of limiting their flow). She finished off the spar with a kick to Lee's chest. The gentle palm technique didn't seem to use kicks because it seemed to prefer utilizing legs to assist in the flowiness of the user, but she liked the strength of a good kick so she decided to integrate it into her fighting style.

Rock Lee landed with his back on the ground hard. She walked over to him and helped to lift him up. "That was an excellent spar! I will need to continue training so that I am one day even better than you! Thank you for teaching me this excellent lesson." He gave her a bow and then proceeded to return to training.

She looked up and saw that they had been going for so long that the sun had made most of its way across the sky. "It was a pleasure. Same time tomorrow Lee-Kun?" He nodded enthusiastically but did not turn his attention away from the post he was training on.

_And you thought I wasn't going to make a friend this way. Shows what you know Mamoru-Kun. There's more than one way to… something a something. LOOK! That's beside the point, it totally worked out._

_I bow to your superior knowledge. Surely you are the greatest socialite of our time. Please teach me your ways._

_And you complain about me being sarcastic, I swear, you get more sassy every day._

He laughed. _I will have some food prepared for you when you return home… it isn't going to be anything grand because I don't have hands, but it'll be better than you having to wait._

Hikari returned to her home, and immediately made her way to the kitchen to see what it was that Mamoru had cooked up. She didn't know what exactly she had been expecting, but she was still disappointed. "Did you just throw a whole bunch of raw vegetables and left over chicken into some steamed rice?"

_I DON'T HAVE HANDS HIKARI-SAN WHAT DID YOU THINK I COULD DO?_

She sighed. Picked out the uncut vegetables, and kept the rice and chicken warmed while she sautéed them. "I don't know why I expected you to know how to cook, you only ever eat your meals raw and whole."

_I am a snake, it is what we do. Speaking of which I will need to go hunting soon, so ask Hokage-Sama for permission to leave the city for our hunt. _

"Alright, I'll be sure to ask when I return some of the books we've finished reading." She returned her attention to her meal. When she had finished her cooking and put all of her components together, she wolfed down her food ravenously.

_My, how lady like._

_Shut up. _She responded without stopping her attack on her bowl. Not having to swallow to speak while eating, was one of the benefits of not having to talk with her mouth. Instantaneous telepathic communication was very helpful. When she had finished with her meal, she put her dishes in the sink and walked over to her bed.

She collapsed into the loving embrace of her mattress face first and felt Mamoru slither in behind her. She was always comforted by his presence, he was familiar and safe, and had been with her since she was born. He laid his in front of hers and used his body to create a barrier between herself and the outskirts of the bed. Because he was 10 feet long, some of his tail hung off the side of the bed, but they both fell into a comfortable, dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p><em>OH KAMI, I'M SO SORE I CAN'T EVEN MOVE! <em>Every single one of her muscles groaned in protest as she tried to pry herself from the comfort of her bed.

_Well I guess you're just going to have to deal with that on your own time, if you wait any longer you will be late to class. _She shot up and fumbled her way to the shower, groaning and complaining loudly with each step.

She got ready as quickly as she could and headed out. She had forgotten to create a bento yesterday night, but she could always just purchase one of the pre-made ones from the school. She hobbled her way into the classroom and began doing a couple of stretches to help loosen them up and hopefully reduce the ache. She was a little relieved to turn to see that Lee was in a similar state of dishevelment. "Hey, Lee-Kun, how are you feeling?"

He got a little bit of fire in his eyes as he turned to her. "I am sore, but I believe that this soreness is a demonstration that I am getting stronger! Every day I will work harder my dream is to be always be stronger than I was the day before!" He stood up and raised his fist to the sky triumphantly, he then immediately whimpered slightly from the pain, and sat back down, but it was a good show none the less.

"A loser will always be a loser, no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to compete with someone who has natural talent." Neji said as he leaned back and folded his arms in front of him.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" He stood once again and pointed to Neji. "I will be a great ninja, and I will do it all with just hard work! You will see!"

Karizake-Sensei walked through the door, "stop yelling so much, perhaps you will learn to control yourself in detention." Lee noticeably deflated and put his head on his desk.

Hikari turned to Lee, and gave him one of her rare non-practiced, genuine smiles. "I was thinking that you and I could spar every Monday and Wednesday, and that would leave me to be able to spar with Neji after classes on Friday. That way, he can watch me beat him with his own technique." She turned to Neji and gave him one of her very well-practiced smiles.

He glared at her again. "I'll spar with you, but only because you're the only one in this class that even comes close to me in terms of skill."

"Oh, Neji-Kun, you know just what to say to a girl. You'll make me blush." She dramatically held her hands to her cheeks and shook herself back and forth. He stiffened and proceeded to give his complete and undivided attention to Karizake-Sensei's lecture.

* * *

><p>For the rest of the year, that was essentially her schedule. Classes, exercises, sparring, reading, cooking, repeat. And soreness had just become synonymous with breathing at that point. Her spars with Lee would be generally considered to be rather one-sided, even with his improvements and work ethic, at the time he simply couldn't keep up with how fast she was improving with her modified gentle-palm technique. Her fights with Neji were usually pretty close and she would win about 40% of her fights with him. Most of the time it was a tossup between who could shut down the most tenketsu points in the arm first to determine who the winner would be (if you couldn't expel chakra from your arms readily, gentle palm was essentially useless). Sometimes they would get a small audience of other students watching their dance of death, and it really was a dance. The two of them flowed amongst each other twisting and flipping around each other in order to find a single weakness to exploit. A few times one of them had to help the other to the nurse's office after collapsing from chakra exhaustion or a particularly well placed attack on the torso (Neji had to help her 2 times and she had to help him once).<p>

Her schedule wasn't exactly varied, and didn't exactly lend itself to much free time, but she was getting stronger quickly.

It wasn't until she was half-way through her second year of the academy that she noticed a little dark blue-haired girl crying in the training fields one afternoon. _Huh, dark blue hair, I'm pretty sure that's a first for me. Hey, Mamoru-Kun, there is a little girl crying here. What do I do?_

_Have you tried talking to her? It has been a while since you made a friend that you don't punch on a semi-regular basis._

_My schedule is pretty tight Mamoru-Kun, can I make time for another friend?_

_Yes, but if she is crying try approaching her with the calm and comforting approach we talked about._

She began walking towards the sad girl. _Got it, "calm and comforting" I can totally do that. Easy as pie. _"What's wrong with you?" She could hear Mamoru's tail connecting to his face from here.

_WRONG_

"I-I am s-sorry if my c-crying bothered you." She looked up at her with lavender eyes filled with sadness and began to stand.

"Whoa there hatchling, I am not bothered by your crying." She helped the little girl to a standing position and proceeded to wrap her arm around the little girl's shoulders. "Let's talk about it over some dango! I've personally never had dango, but I hear that it is pretty freaking delicious." She began walking with the little girl towards the center of town, she wasn't exactly sure where to find dango, but damned if that was going to stop her from trying.

"B-but, I d-don't even know y-you." She said, not trying to escape from Hikari's grasp, but also not exactly comforted by it.

"Well, you know the expression. 'Strangers are just someone you haven't met yet." The little girl looked at her, obviously confused by the expression that didn't exactly contribute much to her point. "Look, I'm not very good with expression, but my name is Hikari Hebi. What about you hatchling?"

"Y-you d-don't know me?" she asked, her teary eyes were beginning to clear up and she looked… hopeful? Why would she hope that I had never heard of her?

"I have no clue who you are, hatchling. You have familiar eyes, but other than that I am at a complete loss." Might as well try honesty, someone has said it was a decent enough policy most of the time.

"I-I am Hinata Hyuga."

"Well Hinata-Chan, as soon as I find us some dango, I believe that this will be the start of a rather enjoyable friendship."

_And you doubted my methods._

_Of course I did, you facilitated interaction with a girl who was crying by asking her what was wrong with her. I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!_

Hikari marched the two of them into town in search of a delicious treat.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note:

I hope you guys appreciate me for this, I had to spend like an hour researching how girls are supposed to grow when they are kids and learn more than I ever wanted to about how the menstrual cycle functions, but I also got to research breast size, so I mean you win some and you lose some I guess. I'm not going to go into baby's first period in the reading, but I wanted you to understand what I do for you fantastic bastards. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, thanks for reading, and be sure to leave a review :D

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Ch 3

It took a fair bit of time before they were able to find a dango shop, and during that time Hinata had not so much as made a peep.

When Hikari had finished purchasing their dango, she sat the two of them down at a small table in the corner of the room. "Now then, what was it that had gotten you so down, Hina-Chan?"

Hinata blushed at the nickname. "I-I don't know if-if I should say…" she averted her eyes from Hikari and decided that the floor was a better place to keep her gaze.

"Surely you can. We are gal-pals now, and although I have never personally had one, I read that we were supposed to share our secrets and do each other's nails and have sleep overs and talk about boys and stuff like that. Honestly, some of that sounds kinda boring, but what are we gonna do about it." She shrugged.

"It's about m-my father… he hates me." Tears began to well up in Hinata's eyes just as the lady behind the counter brought them their dango.

"You know," she said while grabbing a dango and pulling off one of the delicious balls of sweetness, "my dad is a snake." She threw the little dumpling into her mouth and savored the flavor. _Ohhhhh baby das some goooood stuff._

_You do realize that calling someone a snake doesn't usually mean he is literally a snake… I think she just thinks you have a bad dad._

_Oh… WAIT WHY IS SNAKE SYNONYMOUS WITH BAD? We need to get someone on fixing that._

Hinata looked up at her. "Its m-my fault. He doesn't like that I'm so… so w-weak." She returned her gaze to the floor.

"Then get stronger." Hikari said while in the process of eating another of the dango balls. "See, I am a problem solver." She gave Hinata a genuine smile. "I think proving him wrong would be way better than crying."

"But I f-fail at everything, I'm n-no good."

"Then we will make you better." Hinata looked up at Hikari for just a few seconds again. "You and I will train every Tuesday and Thursday, and then get ourselves some delicious dango and have girl talk. You'll be my little Kohai."

Hinata gave a really big smile before nodding her head in affirmation. "Hai, Senpai."

"So, noticed any cute boys?" Hinata got really, really red.

* * *

><p>And on the days went much like before a mix of academy work, reading, training, spars (NOW WITH DANGO), and soreness… lots of soreness. Hinata was a bright girl, she just lacked the aggressive instinct that makes someone a natural born fighter. To be honest, Hinata had the killer instinct of a declawed kitten, but they were working on it. She got a lot more confident both in her physical and communication skills (well around Hikari at least, she still stuttered like mad whenever anyone else tried to talk to her).<p>

The only class she dreaded the most was the kunoichi class, where she was taught how to be a good lady, and how to set a table properly, and how to properly create a bouquet. _WHO CARES THAT TULIPS MEANS PERFECT LOVE! I'M NOT GOING TO NEED TO KNOW THAT WHILE CAVING IN PEOPLE'S SKULLS!_

_I think you are a little too enthused about that if you ask me…_

_I didn't though._

The days went on, and Hikari found herself in a very comfortable and enjoyable pattern. Since Lee was placed in detention so often for being excessively loud, a lot of the time she would look at the clouds for an hour while she waited for him to get out. Those were the times when she was most at peace. It was strange that the best part of her week was the time when she did nothing. Just lie on the soft grass and feel the wind play across her cheeks. These times were often cut short by Lee's exuberance as he ran to her to begin training, but she could hardly begrudge him that.

During her third year at the academy, she heard about the Uchiha massacre. She didn't really understand how someone could do something so terrible to their own clan. She would never kill a fellow leaf ninja, let alone her family…. _But I don't really have a family to kill, just acquaintances with a few friends here and there._

_You have me. _Mamoru tried to cheer her up, he could taste the pain and sadness in the air, enveloping the entire city. _Human families are overrated anyways. Your snake family is was going to be way better anyway._

_Thanks for trying Mamoru-Kun, I appreciate the sentiment. _

Even with Mamoru's assistance, she still felt like she was in a bit of a slump, that Friday when she walked over to the training field where she usually sparred with Neji and laid down to look at the clouds again.

"What are you doing?" Neji looked down at her, but didn't lower his defenses, he still remembered the last time she did something like this.

"I didn't particularly feel like sparring today, I am in a pretty foul mood." He looked skeptical. "Would you mind sitting with me and talking?" Now he was very confused, she had never acted like this she seemed almost… vulnerable, he didn't like it. The person he sparred with had never demonstrated any weakness, what had gotten into her? "Neji, we have been sparring for three years, do you know the number of conversations we have had?" she immediately lifted a fist into the air. "I'll give you a hint, it's that many."

"Fine, after we are done with this talk you are waiting for, can we spar?" He slowly sat down next to her, still wary of her, just in case it was an elaborate sneak attack.

"Why not?" she shrugged. They were silent for a full minute before she broke it. "What do you think family means?"

"Family, noun: any group of persons closely related by blood, such as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins." He said it very robotically, like he was reciting it.

"Right, thanks for the dictionary definition ass." She sat up and looked at his long flowing black hair, and pale eyes with just a hint of lavender. "I meant what does it mean to you?" she asked more quietly than before.

"Servitude." He didn't even hesitate.

"Elaborate."

"I was born to protect the main branch of the family. That is my fate. I am destined to be a servant, and a servant I will remain." He lied down, it was his turn to have his head in the clouds. "There is no point fighting fate." He closed his eyes.

"I don't know if I believe in that kind of fate." He opened his eyes immediately. "I think we are who we choose to be… I think the idea of fate is a way for people to cope with what happens. 'I am an slave because I was fated to be an slave' just sounds… like you've given up. And if fate is real, then who is to say what is and is not fate? Maybe you were born into a system in which servitude is expected, maybe even demanded, but what if your fate was to fix that system?" He began to rise back up to a seated position, his eyes never wavering from her face. "I don't think that just because someone tells you who you are, or what you are, that that is what you have to be."

"That is a child's way of thinking. Everything that happens does so because that is what was meant to happen. It is foolish to believe that we have a hands in our destiny."

"But who told you that was your destiny? No one on this planet has an infallible knowledge of what it is that the future holds. Just because you were born without a family doesn't mean you can't create one of your choosing!"

His lavender eyes didn't leave her as understanding began to dawn across his face. "We aren't talking about my idea of fate anymore are we?" She pulled her knees to her chin and looked down.

"I didn't get to choose whether or not I had a family, but that doesn't mean I'm fated to be alone…" she was quiet, what she said had barely been audible.

"No, I suppose not. It's is different for me though, things are expected of me, and failure is punishable by death." He pointed the green x on his forehead "This is the symbol of my fate. My seal comes with the knowledge, that at any time, if the main branch decides that I am more useful dead than I am alive, they can end my life immediately. I didn't get to choose my family either."

"If they had never given you that seal, would you die for them? Would you volunteer your life for the good of the rest of your family? I think… I think that Konoha is my family, and that I would die to protect them." She turned to face him and gave a strained smile and a small laugh. "but then again, I've probably been spending too much time with old man Hokage. Let's get to the sparring, I've wasted enough of your time."

He slowly moved his body into a standing position, and entered a defensive pose. And so they continued, just as they were before. Like nothing had even happened.

_Damn, you are really depressing sometimes._

_Language, Mamoru-Kun. I'll never know what baby me was thinking summoning you._

_You know you love it!_

* * *

><p>Life continued on after the initial shock of the Uchiha Massacre, the veil of sadness passed, and the village returned to its comfortable status quo. Hikari began basic sword training to give her some close combat power to compensate for her clumsiness with Kunai. Her senbon were still lethally accurate, she had trained herself to be able to hit dead center of a target from 60 yards. They hadn't been taught any interesting jutsu, except the ones that were used to infiltrate, as well as generic clones.<p>

It wasn't until her 10th birthday that she noticed that Mamoru was being particularly… excited.

_Ooooooo today is the day! I'm so excited for you, as soon as you get home from school you are gonna get a surprise, so call of practice with whoever it is you are practicing with today and come straight home. I CAN HARDLY WAIT. _He was slithering around the apartment excitedly.

"Relax Mamoru-Kun," She said as she exited the bathroom and began to pull on the clothes she was going to wear today. (It didn't really matter she only had eight sets of the same clothes). She wore the standard mesh body armor, and covered it with her grey V-neck tee shirt that had a dark purple sakura blossom on the back of it. She might not be very good with flowers, but she knew whether or not she thought something was pretty. She proceeded to pull on the tight fitting khaki pants that came to an abrupt end at her calves. She tied her special kunai holster to her right leg, and then headed off to class for the day.

It was the same old normal ninja class, history, math, chakra control, spars, way of the ninja, running, applied physics (that is what she liked to call throwing weapons at targets), chakra theory, and just general ninja stuff like that. She beat Neji, which was a pretty big booster for her happiness.

When they were dismissed for the day, she told Lee, that since it was her birthday Mamoru had planned something important for her back at the house and that she would have to cancel their workout for the day.

"Hikari-san, I was not aware that today was the day of your birth." He dramatically went to his knees. "I am a bad friend, forgive me! I have been working so hard that I had neglected the fact that-"

"LEE!" she coughed "Lee-Kun, its fine. I don't mind. There is nothing particularly special about a birthday it is just like any other day."

Neji leaned over. "Yea, my birthday is tomorrow. I totally agree that birthday's aren't a big deal. I don't even plan to celebrate it."

Lee's mouth was agape. "But it is a day to be celebrated! It is the day in which you first burst forth into the world!" Neji and Hikari both shuddered when Lee said the phrase "burst forth." "I will make it my duty, to give the two of you a birthday worth remembering!"

"No, Lee I really don't… and he's gone." Hikari sighed. "Well he is getting a lot faster at least… what do you think he is planning on doing?"

"I don't even want to begin thinking about it." Neji left and headed home.

When Hikari opened the door to her apartment Mamoru practically jumped on her. "Oh, kami. What has gotten you all in a tizzy?"

_Who uses the word tizzy?_

She crossed her arms, _I guess I do. _

_Regardless, you and I are going to go see Manda. He sent a message telling me that he wanted to see you when you had finished class for the day. He didn't tell me what it was about, but he said not to worry because it was good news. _He continuously bobbed his head up and down. To be honest it was kinda making her dizzy watching him.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We don't want to make Tousan wait any more than he has to. You know how important his time is!" She reached around Mamoru and then felt herself being torn across space to the pitch blackness she had remembered from childhood.

Torches begin to flicker on within the cavern revealing the awe inspiring presence of Manda the Great. "Ah, it is about time you got here. I do not appreciate being made to wait."

She bowed her head as low to the ground as she could place it. "Apologies, Tousan. Mamoru-Kun wanted to make the visit here a surprise, so I was not told what that I was coming until moments ago. If I had known that I would be in your presence I would have purchased more formal clothes."

He nodded his head in understanding, of course Mamoru wanted it to be a surprise, being in his presence was a gift after all. "I understand, your current clothing is acceptable, but that is not why you are here." Hikari tried to suppress an excited yelp after Manda called her choice of clothing acceptable. "You are here to begin your training in the forbidden ways of the serpent. You will be staying here for the year, learning fighting styles as well as jutsu from us, thus solidifying you into our clan."

"Of course, Tousan. I would be honored to learn the ways of the clan." She said it very poised and calm, but on the inside… _OH KAMI OH KAMI OH KAMI! THERE ARE SNAKE JUTSU? I GET TO SPEND AN ENTIRE YEAR DEVOTED TO TRAINING IN THE WAY OF THE SERPENT! OH THIS IS SO COOOOOOOOOL! EEEEEEEEEEEE!_

_You are hurting my brain, child PLEASE! Enough, I regret ever taking you here. _

She grabbed hold of Mamoru and squeezed him with all the force she could muster. Then she remembered that she was in the presence of her Tousan and released him with a slight blush. "Tousan, may I go inform Hokage-Sama that I will be receiving instruction here for the next year? I do not want them to waste resources thinking that I was kidnapped or something."

"You may."

* * *

><p>Sarutobi looked at the now empty desk. It had taken him years of concentrated effort to finally put a dent into the massive stack of reports. He knew that his assistant was going to be carrying in another huge pile of reports any moment, but he let the small victory was over his old bones.<p>

Suddenly there was a quick sequence of knocks on his door. Before he had even had a chance to say "come in" Hikari burst through the door and sprinted to his desk. "Iwasjustaskedtospendayearlearningsnakejutsuwithmysummonscanigopleasecanicani?"

…what?

"Hikari… can you try again, but a little slower this time?"

She took in a big gulp of air and counted to ten. "Tousan said that I could spend the next year with him and the clan in order to learn all new types of jutsu so that I can be considered a fully-fledged member of the clan. It means that I'll have to take at least a year off from my academy training."

Sarutobi looked over her carefully. "What clan is this?"

"The Hebi clan, the clan that I was adopted into when I signed my summoning contract." Sarutobi was visibly paled. "You do know that my Tousan is Manda the Great right? When I said my dad was a snake I wasn't talking about metaphorically."

"Manda… the largest snake in the world… is your father, and is requesting that you spend a year away from Konoha, in order to learn the very deadly snake jutsus is that the gist of it?" Hikari nodded her head enthusiastically. "Well… you are already finished with all of the required readings that the academy gives to its students, and by law I am not allowed to interfere with clan rituals, so I can't really say no."

"'Kay, thanks, love you bye!" She sprinted out of his office.

"Oh kami… between this little girl and Naruto the village will be putting me in the ground before you know it." He sighed and leaned back in his chair wishing for the distraction that menial paperwork could give him.

* * *

><p>The first month of snake-school (which she affectionately dubbed it) was a lot different from her regular school. A lot of it was spent memorizing which of the snakes in her summoning arsenal were poisonous, the overall effects of the poisons in question, which snakes had the largest bite, which ones bit with the most pressure, which ones were useful for tracking, and which one she should use as heavy hitters. Mamoru-Kun was one of her most venomous snakes, and had grown to a significant 45 feet in length. In a year or so, he was going to be wide enough for her to be able to ride him into battle, WHICH WOULD BE AWESOME!<p>

After she became affiliated with her snakes and their assorted combat roles, she was taught the predator genjutsu, which would paralyze her opponent in fear and force them to see their death at her hands. Which had a ton of applicable uses other than making people shit their pants… probably.

Before she was allowed to learn any more of the fun stuff, she was forced to spend days on her chakra control, even though she was already perfectly adept at walking on water and on the ceiling. She focused most of her time expelling and refilling her chakra coils with the different types of chakra. After the few days were up, they determined that her control was adequate enough for her to utilize these jutsu in order.

She was also taught the Striking Shadow Snake, which essentially made snakes shoot out of her arm in order to ensnare her opponent. In addition to this she was taught how to summon the Spear of the Serpent, which was classified as an arcane weapon. It was a 5 foot long metal shaft with the markings of two snakes coiling around it from the bottom leading up to the spearhead which they faced with fangs bared. The blade of the spear was 8 inches long. The first time she picked it up, it had cut deeply into her hands, but she was told that if she dropped it, the spear would not accept her as its master, so she gritted her teeth and dealt with the fact that the spear was an asshole. She taught that spear who was boss as often as she could though, and their relationship was what most would consider tolerant of the other.

She also got to make another addendum to her ninjutsu repertoire called Shadow's Fang Strike which involved her summoning a large amount of chakra into her right hand and swiping it across the opponent, bypassing any armor, clothes, and even skin, in order to do catastrophic damage to the internal organs and chakra network. It was a killing strike, never to be used during a spar…or even anyone you wanted to survive for the next few minutes.

The time she spent with the snakes resulted in her being almost completely immune to any of the snake based poisons. They also showed her the more of the basic medical ninjutsu and had her become a poisons master, which she took to with a fervor. Mixing and matching chemicals and venom to create everything from deadly neurotoxins to mild paralytics became one of her favorite pass times

She also began to grow more quickly off of the meals that she was given while in the care of the snakes. Although she didn't really know if she was growing because of the mystery meat that tasted like medicine or just puberty in general. Her clothes quickly began to become too tight, and by the fifth month of training her shirt had started to barely even reach her belly button. She even had to start taping down her breasts in order to keep them steady during her training.

_When did you start becoming an adult?_

_I am not having this conversation with you, Mamoru-Kun._

_Would you rather have it with Manda?_

_YES! CAN YOU IMAGINE MANDA TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE "BLOSSOMING OF A CHILD INTO ADULTHOOD?"_

_Oh kami, no! He'll kill us both if we make him do that!_

_BUT IT'D BE TOTALLY WORTH IT!_

She had spent a year and a half in the cave (which was the equivalent of having to get 2 entirely new outfits to keep up with the fact that she was growing like crazy) before she had mastered everything that her mentors had set out before her.

"You have done an excellent job with your training, Hika-Chan." Hikari tried not to squeal in excitement at both the praise and her new nickname. "Before you go however, there is some business I need you to take care of."

"Hai, Tousan. I will do my best." She stated with barely contained excitement.

"One of the other minor clan's leaders has been very outspoken about you. He considers you weak, and that is an insult to you and by extension me. I would like you to go to his designated chambers and kill him in front of his clan." His voice was cold as he said this. "His name is Ranobi, and I will have Mamoru"I will not tolerate imbeciles who do not respect my children. Now go."

"Hai, Tousan!" She walked out of the room with all the poise and grace of a daughter of Manda could… but on the inside. _Mamoru did you hear that? He called me his daughter! This is the first time he has done that! Oh, Kami I am so ready to put the hurt down on this bastard!_

She jumped onto the back of Mamoru who was now 60 feet long and 7 feet wide which was perfectly ridable. _Goodness kid, you sure have gotten big._

_ME? Looks who is talking, there is no way on earth you'll be able to fit in my apartment anymore… and I can't exactly just let you roam around the village either. Kami, what am I gonna do with you?_

_We could go on a rampage in Konoha and I could declare myself king._

_We will table that discussion for now, and come back to it later, I am not dismissing the idea, but I don't want to get too attached to it yet._

_Of course, but if we do become rulers, then that would make you a princess._

_Yuck, I don't want to be a princess, being rescued all the time and shit like that-_

_Language, naughty word_

_I want to be a warrior… maybe you could be the princess and I could be the beautiful and daring savior_

_Don't get so full of yourself, kiddo._

She smiled as she laid down on Mamoru's back, waiting to arrive at Ranobi's clan meeting area. She didn't even realize she had fallen asleep until Mamoru went to a jostling halt and forced her off of him. She walked into the mouth of the cavern where she saw a very large black snake with splotches of red from his head to tail. Kind of like someone had taken a paint brush and flicked some dark red paint on him. In his den was a set of smaller snakes who all proceeded to look at the intruder with angry eyes.

"And who is it that would dare to disturb me this hour?" His voice was filled with contempt and hatred for the girl.

_That's pretty rude, I only just met the guy, and he is already being an ass._

_Well you are here to kill him, you can hardly expect him to be happy to see you._

_Yea, but he doesn't know that. "_My name is Hikari Hebi, daughter of the esteemed Manda Hebi. You have insulted my strength, so I have been sent here to demonstrate it to you first hand, by challenging you to a battle to the death." She stood up straighter as she spoke, and summoned the Spear of Serpents, grabbing it with her right hand first before entering into an aggressive stance.

Ranobi let out a roar of laughter. "Has Manda become so foolish, that he would send a child, a human child no less, to defeat me?" He moved to demonstrate to her his full length, he was massive in size. At least 120 feet in length from nose to tail, and 12 feet wide.

She smirked at him, "I believe Manda truly understands how weak it is you are, and we do not tolerate weakness." She charged towards him dodging and rolling out of the way oh his strikes, just one blow from his tail would be enough to end her. She scored dozens of scratches along the length of him, trying to weaken him with the poisons that she had laced her blade with. Even then he was still so fast, almost impossibly so. In the midst of the fighting however, she began to notice a severe increase in the clarity of her vision. She could see the moves he was going to make before he made them, strike a position she knew he would be to deal even more damage to his already weakening form. She gouged out his left eye with her spear, before she flipped over the bridge of his nose to impale the spear into his other eye.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" he screamed as he began thrashing around violently.

Hikari didn't even waver, she walked calmly to the point of Ranobi where his skull met his back. She began channeling her chakra. Angry black tendrils began to coagulate around her arm as she focused her chakra to create Shadow's Fang Strike before crushing her hand through his skull with a rather satisfying squelch. Ranobi fell to the ground a lifeless corpse.

Hikari turned to face the onlookers, while wiping the brain matter off on her pants _these clothes are gonna need a pretty severe wash once we get back._

_You're gonna need a wash when we get back_

_HEY! Shut up, I just killed a massive snake here, let's give me a little credit here. _Hikari noticed that she had been silent for a little too long. "Is there anyone else who now doubts the strength of the Hebi?" They reluctantly bowed their heads to her. "Let him be a lesson for you." She jumped down and pried open his mouth and proceeded to rip out two of his smaller teeth. _I'm gonna make this into a pretty kickass necklace for Hinata and I… well… I'm gonna pay someone to do that._

_Do you regret not paying attention to arts and crafts while at the Academy? _

_Not even a little bit. _She walked out of the cave and they made their way back to Manda.

"Ah, excellent, so I see you have returned. I take it Ranobi is fallen?

"Hai."

"Good, with that your training is now complete. Feel free to return to Kanoha and continue your learning there."

* * *

><p>Mamoru teleported the two of them back to the not so familiar Konoha forest… <em>Mamoru! We are outside the city by like 10 miles! I wanted to wash the blood off of my fist before having to see Hokage-Sama.<em>

_Well, I can hardly send us to the apartment now can I? Why is that again? OH YEA BECAUSE I WOULD CRUSH IT AND EVERYONE IN THE BUILDING!_

_I concede your point, but I am not happy about it._

She reached the gate to the city rather quickly, where she was greeted by two chunin. "Hello, my name is Hikari Hebi, I need to speak to the Hokage as soon as you can get me to see him." The two gate guards looked like they had seen a ghost. "Do you need something? I really would like to take a shower and you are impeding my ability to do so." They continued to stare at her. "Ok…bye." She walked into town and both of the guards were too flabbergasted to even follow her.

She walked into her old apartment, (her key still worked, thank kami) to find it to be exactly the way she had left it, except for the layer of dust, that was new.

She made her way to the bathroom and immediately took a shower to wash the sticky blood off of herself. It was so nice to have warm running water again, and she savored every moment of it. She exited the shower and wrapped a towel around her waist. She wiped off some of the steam of her mirror so that she could wash her face when she looked in the mirror.

_WHAT. THE. FUCK._

_Language, naughty word._

_When the hell did I get these!? _The "these" that she was referring to was the blood red eyes with 3 small black commas in them that lied on a concentric circle around her pupil. _Oh god, what is happening to me! Am I some kind of freak?_

_Probably, (that didn't help) just go ask the Hokage, if there is something really wrong with you I am sure he will know exactly how it is that you can fix it._

She pulled on her clothing as fast as she could her wet hair flopping around in the wind.

Sarutobi kept looking at the door to his office. It had been quiet today, too quiet. He had already finished most of his paperwork for today, but kept on expecting to see Naruto being dragged into the office by Iruka for another one of his pranks, but today had gone completely without incident. It was almost too good to be-

Hikari went bursting through his door- true- and sprinted up to his desk. "Hokage-Sama something is wrong with my eyes!" she closed her eyes and put her head on the table.

"What's wrong? Are you blind?" she shook her head. "oh, did someone put poison in them?" she shook her head again. "Well then tell me what is wrong then, child."

She lifted her chin up from his desk and opened up her eyes, revealing the Uchiha Kekei Genkai. He looked into her eyes very inquisitively before understanding began to dawn on him. "Hikari-Chan, this is a bloodline limit referred to as the Sharingan eye. There is nothing wrong with you, little one. If anything this is supposed to be a joyous occasion."

"Uchiha? Wasn't that entire clan wiped out by one of their own? Is this thing something I should hide?" He brought his hands up to her cheeks.

"If memory serves, you should be able to deactivate your Sharingan at any time of you wish. In any case, you may continue with your academy courses as scheduled. I believe you were in contention with the Hyuga boy for rookie of the year? I will talk to you again next week." She looked down for a moment. "don't worry about it, I am sure everything will be fine."

"Hai, thank you for your help." She replied unenthusiastically. "Oh, actually I need to talk to you about Mamoru-Kun also."

"How is your little snake doing?"

"He is now 60 feet long and taking residence in the forest around Konoha." The Hokage's mouth gaped. "Be sure to tell your recon team not to fight him, he is very venomous." And with that she left the office.

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! One day of relative peace and quiet was too much to ask for!?" He put his fingers to the bridge of his nose and slowly began messaging it in order to mitigate the oncoming stress headache. "It looks like we have another survivor of the Uchiha fiasco… I am getting way too old for this."

In the morning, she woke up with a slight headache. She went to the mirror and jumped when she noticed that the Sharingan was still active. She splashed some cool water on her face in an attempt to mitigate the small headache that was steadily growing stronger. She took her shower, shaved her legs, brushed out her hair, and wrapped her chest and hands (she had gotten into this habit while practicing breaking rocks). She slipped on her mesh armor and pulled on her tight Khaki half pants. The only shirt she had was covered in snake blood, so she had the feeling that that wasn't the first impression she wanted to make after disappearing for a year and a half… maybe she'd just wear what she had on. She was completely covered, no one was gonna see nothing, but something about only wearing a mesh top didn't sit well with her. She decided that she'd have to go… SHOPPING (dun dun dunnnn). Later, after she finished classes for the day. _Huh, today is Friday. I wonder if Neji is busy._

_Why are you thinking about a boy when you are half-naked?_

She blushed rather severely. _N-No! I wasn't thinking about him! I was thinking about which day it was, and Fridays used to be spar with Neji days… I wonder if he remembers me._

_You did it again._

_SHUT UP!_ She stormed out of the room (neglecting that distance apart between the two of them didn't actually make it harder for him to speak to her). She made it to the Academy 5 minutes ahead of schedule and sat down in her usual seat. She crossed her arms and waited for class to start.

"That seats taken." She turned to her right to see Neji standing in front of her.

"By whom? I don't recall giving you permission to give my seat away while I was gone." She looked up at him and gave him a genuine smile. "How was life without me in it Neji-Kun?" She winked.

"H-Hikari?" she nodded. "Where have you been? Lee thought that you ran away because you didn't want him to throw you a birthday party, he was inconsolable for weeks."

"That does sound like something he would do. I was training with my father, it was a bit of a clan ritual in order to become a full member." She pointed to her eyes. "I also got these, which apparently means that I was the bastard child of an Uchiha before I was given to the orphanage, but enough about me, what have you been up to?"

"Well, without you around, I've been rather uncontestably number one in the class, but it does make it pretty boring." He sighed a little and then leaned back in his chair.

She leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands. "So you have missed me, see it wasn't that hard. All you have to do is say it. Come on." She moved her hand to his cheek and began squishing it a little to pretend like he was making the words. "I missed you so much Hikari. I just didn't know if I could go on another day without you. Life was just so dull without you there to brighten my day."

"Who is grabbing Neji's face?" She turned to see her most active sparring partner.

She smiled and released Neji's cheeks from her grasp. He smirked and turned his attention to something else. "Don't recognize me, Lee-Kun?" she pouted just a little bit. "I am so hurt."

"HIKARI-CHAN!" He went down on his knees and held out his hands. "I AM SO SORRY THAT I PLANNED A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR YOU, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

"Uhhh… Lee, I didn't leave because I was avoiding your party, I left because I had to do clan training with my father. You didn't have anything to do with it… damnit Lee stand up and stop pouting! I swear I'm gone for a little more than a year and the two of you just fall apart without me."

Neji looked back at her. "What?"

She leaned over and gave both of them a kiss on the cheek. "I've missed you guys."

Neji was noticeably a brighter shade of crimson than he was a few seconds ago. "You do realize the graduation exams are in less than a month… right?"

"What!"


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note:

Here is another chapter. I wish I could say that it was because I love you and appreciate everything it is that you do for me, and it is that… a little… but it is mostly procrastination for finals. Thanks for reading, I really have enjoyed writing what I have so far, and really appreciate the support. :D

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Ch 4

_That Sharingan eye is going to be a big problem._ Sarutobi returned his attentions to the desk in front of him. _I was hoping to spare her from the pain that the knowledge where she comes from would bring. I have expected for a long time that Hikari has been the daughter of Orochimaru, but I had not expected this development. She is going to be pulled from so many side. Danzo and the council is going to want her to have training in the ANBU, Orochimaru is waiting for the opportune time to strike at us I have no doubt, and I do not know who it is that I will get to train her to be a loyal leaf shinobi. _He put his hands to the sides of his temples and began attempting to massage away the stress headache._ I can't ask any of the clan heads to take time out of their duties to begin her training, but Anko might like a snake girl as a companion. I don't have any teams that haven't already been decided, and so few of our Jonin are ready for the responsibility of taking on an actual apprentice. Anko isn't the most… stable individual. I will have to speak to Hikari tomorrow to inform her of the danger she is in… I was hoping I wouldn't have to put so much pressure on such a sweet little girl._

He lifted his head up to look at the ceiling. _Things are going to get very complicated._

* * *

><p>Hikari was in her room staring into the mirror intensely. <em>Come on! <em>"Deactivate!" nope. "Off! Stop! BAD EYES!" nope nope nope. "DAMN IT!" she slammed her palms onto her counter. She could tell that the eyes were using up her chakra reserves, and her headache she had earlier was evolving into a migraine.

_Have you tried thinking about it extra hard?_

_WHY WOULD THAT DO ANYTHING? No, there has to be some sort of process or stressor that makes my eyes all… _she points to the mirror _this._

_Maybe if you stop the flow of chakra to your eyes, they will shut off on their own._

_Or I'll go blind._

_Yea, or you will go blind._

_THAT'S A BIG 'OR' MAMORU! _She had been in the bathroom at the academy for about 30 minutes, and she would have to come up with a reason that she wasn't in class 'sorry, I was trying to turn off my eyes' probably wasn't gonna fly with sensei.

_Maybe if instead of shutting down the chakra point leading to your eyes, you just kinda pinch it a little, and limit the flow._

_Will I have to consciously pinch at that chakra point for the rest of my life?_

_I DON'T HAVE THE ANSWERS HIKARI, I'M GUESSING HERE TOO!_

_Fine. _She closed her eyes and began focusing on the path of chakra around her body. _Now to carefully and calmly mitigate the amount of chakra sent to my eyes. _The world seemed to lack the clarity that it had had moments before, but she looked in the mirror to see her familiar black orbs staring back at her. "YES! I'M DONE!" she pushed open the door to leave the bathroom as hard as she could. And knocked over some poor kid who was walking in front of it. "Oh, uhhh… sorry about that."

The boy had black hair that was spiky in the back and wore a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar with some kind of crest on the back, as well as white arm warmers. _Why does he have arm warmers? It's not even chilly today? _She had knocked him down in such a way that his back was towards her as he made his way back into a standing position. "It's no big deal." He turned around to reveal his bangs that framed his face, and intense black eyes, that looked just like hers.

"I, uh, was just a little excited is all." He raised an eyebrow in perfectly reasonable confusion. "No! uh not excited about what happened in there…" She paused. "Can we start these introductions over?"

_Damn gurl you are so smooth. I mean wow, what a comeback. I was worried you weren't gonna pull this one out, but there's no way you could possibly mess up._

"Sasuke Uchiha." He didn't seem very phased by Hikari's social ineptitude. _Don't worry he probably just thinks I'm an idiot. We can work with that._

"Uchiha? I guess that makes us related in some way."

His eyes become very cold and angry. "What." He balled his fist.

_Ok, Hikari… that was a terrible idea, like honestly the worst. We literally talked about how his whole clan died yesterday. Watching you crash and burn is entertaining, yet painful._

"Umm…" she paused trying really hard to come up with a decent enough explanation… _I DON'T EVEN KNOW THE EXPLANATION! _"Well, apparently I am the daughter of some Uchiha, and I inherited their Kekkei Genkai… so I guess being an orphan isn't all bad."

He threw a punch at her face that she deflected. _That's what you decided to go with? _He continued to go on the offensive as she blocked or evaded punch after punch.

_I didn't plan this interaction out! Why didn't we have a 'just in case you meet an estranged family member whose family has been murdered' interaction plan?_

_Should I add it to the list?_

_NO DON'T ADD IT TO THE LIST WHEN AM I EVER GOING TO USE THAT AGAIN?!_

_Point taken. _

She released her Sharingan and time once again felt like it slowed. She caught the kick that was flying towards her head and used her other hand to grab his collar and throw him into the wall. He slumped to the floor breathing heavily. "Honestly, the first time you meet family you decide it is a good idea to try to punch them in the face?" She walked over to him. "Now, let's start over… again." She held out her hand. "Hello, my name is Hikari Hebi." He just glared at her. "Take my hand or I'm kicking you through the wall."

He rather unenthusiastically grabbed her hand. She raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. He let out a big sight before he said. "I am Sasuke Uchiha."

"Good, now that we are so well acquainted, we can start down the path to becoming friends." He immediately walked away. _Well… it could have gone worse._

_Really?_

_Probably not._

She walked back to her own class. "That will be a detention, Hikari." Said her sensei. "You were gone far too long for a bathroom break."

"But-"

"No 'buts,' you are having detention." He returned to his lecture and she sat dejectedly in her seat.

She noticed that everything had a strange amount of clarity to it. _Damn it I turned my eyes back on!_

_Language, naughty word._

She spent the rest of his lecture trying to ensure that she could get decent enough control OVER HER OWN EYES. This was going to have to take some getting used to.

* * *

><p>After her Friday class (and subsequent detention) she went immediately to the Hokage's office. She knew that the Hokage had asked that she come back later in the week, but she wanted answers and she wanted them now. She walked to his assistant and asked for an audience with him as soon as he was available. She sat down in one of his comfy waiting chairs and waited. <em>Bored. Mamoru-Kun, is there anything I can do while I just sit around?<em>

_Create a deadly neurotoxin?_

_Why did I even ask? I'll just twiddle my thumbs. _There was about an hour of twiddling before the Hokage sent her in to see him.

"Ah, Hikari-Chan, I am glad you are here." He paused for a moment and gestured for her to take a seat in front of him. "There are some things that you will need to know that are very important. First, the question of your birth." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I have been doing some research, and I believe that I know who it is that your parents are."

"M-My parents?" She looked at him very hopefully.

"I am sorry to inform you that this is not exactly good news. You are the child of one Kuriki Uchiha and Orochimaru. Your mother died after child birth and your father…" he paused and turned his head slightly away from her.

"What about my father Hokage-Sama?" the hope in her eyes was becoming clouded in doubt and sadness.

"Your father is an S-class criminal who is a wanted missing-nin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves." She looked crushed, and it hurt him to see her like that. "I am sorry that I have to tell you all of this now, I would have preferred waiting, but your activation of the Sharingan eye makes you… a target."

Her head was downcast so he couldn't see how she was reacting to his news, but he saw her hands shaking, whether from rage or grief was impossible to tell. "There is a faction within Konoha that will seek to control you, this is why I am going to be putting you immediately into the care of one of my jonin as an apprentice. My hope is that you will trust that I am trying to do what is the best for you." She didn't respond to anything he was saying.

He began reaching into his desk and pulled out a small box and placed it on his desk. "There is good news for you however." She slowly began looking up. "In light of your skills and abilities in the fields of both academics and combat." He opened the box to reveal a Leaf headband. "It is my honor as the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, to give you this headband. Congratulations, you are now officially a shinobi." He put the headband in his hands and stood up. He walked behind her and placed the forehead protector just above the eyebrows before tying it behind her. "I have faith in you, Hikari-chan. Make the village proud." She burst into tears and turned to give the Hokage as big a hug as she could muster.

"I will Hokage-Sama, I promise. I am going to be the one that brings Orochimaru to justice!" she released him from her hug and wiped away the tears that gathering in her eyes. "Who is going to be my Shishou?"

"Your shishou will meet you by the end of the week, until then try to relax and take some time off. Maybe hang out with some friends?" He smiled.

"Oh, by the way, I met Sasuke Uchiha today at the academy. He knows about the fact that we are distantly related now."

"How did that work out?"

The memory of throwing him into the wall was the most vivid memory of her interaction with him. "Not terrible?"

He chuckled and returned to his desk. "Well, I suppose that is to be expected. He has thought that he was all alone in this world for a long time. Maybe it will do him some good to get to know you."

"Hai, Hokage-Sama." She turned and exited his office before she closed the door she gave him a quiet thank you.

* * *

><p>She walked to the Hyuga compound and knocked on their gates. Someone with the markings of the branch family opened the gate. "Why have you come?" He was not a happy camper, but then again Hikari was pretty sure that having a stick put up your ass was a clan tradition for the Hyuga family so she didn't really mind.<p>

"I am here to see Hinata Hyuga, I have been away for a year and a half and was hoping to see her again, and also maybe do a little shopping and get some dango." She gave him a well-practiced smile.

"Hinata does not have friends." OUCH.

"You are looking at evidence to the contrary. Is she home now?"

"Come with me." He walked away, not even waiting for her compliance. _Wow… Mamoru how on earth did Hinata survive in this compound all these years? _All of the yards in the Hyuga compound were immaculately clean, carefully planned gardens contained beautiful flowers and aesthetic features, but there was something oppressive in the atmosphere.

He led her to a sliding door where he proceeded to bow. "Come in." said a rather masculine voice that was definitely not Hinata's. The man gestured for her to enter.

She walked in to find a man with eyes with just a hint of lavender wearing a completely white robe sitting at the head what would have been a family council if he hadn't been alone. _I'm pretty sure this guy is important… Mamoru what do I do?_

_Be as polite as possible._

_THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT. _She bowed her head politely to the man in front of her. "Thank you for letting me in to your lovely home." He gestured for her to sit across from him. She quickly obliged.

"Why is it that you have come to the Hyuga compound?" His voice was hard as rock, but wasn't cruel. It was the voice of someone who expected others to do the best and refused to accept anything else.

"I have come here looking for Hinata-chan, I have just recently gotten back into Konoha and I wanted to take her to get some dango and clothes." He didn't seem confused… he didn't really show any emotions at all really. "Is there something wrong?"

"Why would you choose to go out with my daughter?" Hikari didn't exactly understand where he was going with this. "What is in it for you?" oh, that was where it was going.

"There isn't anything in it for me. We became friends when I was at the Ninja Academy. Every Tuesday and Thursday, the two of us would do some training and then go get some dango to celebrate a job well done." She didn't understand why he believed that she had any ulterior motives.

"I do not want my daughter to associate herself with you."

"Is this because of my parentage?"

"If I had known that it was you who was spending time with my daughter I never would have allowed it." She immediately tried to quell the anger that was bubbling up inside of her. _THAT BASTARD! I've been Hinata's friend for years, and now he is forbidding me from seeing her because my father was a criminal! _

"That is hardly a fair assessment of my character. The fact that you are judging my worthiness to spend time with your daughter is based upon where ½ of my genes came from and not on my own merits is rather insulting." She tried to keep as much bite out of her words as she could, but it still infuriated her.

"Someone has already tried to kidnap and experiment upon Hinata once in her life." His eyes were as bare as they could be, as if here were commenting upon something that only maintained a portion of his interest. "I will not endanger her by allowing her to be in the company of the offspring of a madman."

"I've never even met that madman!" She stood up. "If this is how the Hyuga clan thanks someone for consoling their daughter while she was in tears, then fine!" She opened the sliding door and stormed out. Stormed out of the room. Stormed out of the house. Stormed out of the compound.

As she was in the midst of storming back to her apartment complex she saw that Neji was in the training fields by the academy. She walked over to where he was practicing and waited for him to be done. When he noticed that she was there he stopped what he was doing. "What's wrong with you?"

She grabbed his arm and pulled him with her. "You and I are going to hang out and be friends. Damned if I am going to be told who I am and am not allowed to be friends with." She started dragging him away from the training fields.

"Uh… but… Did I miss something?" he started walking on his own so as not to suffer the embarrassment of having people see him being dragged away by some girl. "Hey, when did you get that?" He gestured to her headband.

"I'll tell you all about it over some dinner, I haven't eaten anything all day." She didn't let go of his arm as the two of them walked through town looking for somewhere to eat. They settled on Ichiraku's Ramen shop. The two of them sat down and placed their order. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Hikari spoke. "The head of the Hyuga clan said I wasn't allowed to be friends with Hinata anymore." Her voice was soft and full of sadness.

"Why?" Neji wanted to do something to comfort her, but nothing was coming to mind, so he sat there with his hands folded in front of him.

"Because he realized who I was… he said that if he had known it was me" she paused and looked down. "If he had known that the person spending time with Hinata was me, that he would never have allowed it to happen in the first place. Like I'm a monster." The ramen girl brought out their food and Hikari just ended up staring at it for a few seconds.

"I am sorry. The leader of the main branch holds all the power of the clan, but that does not make what he said to you right." He very awkwardly pat her on the back once before he returned his hands to their previous position.

Hikari appreciated the effort that went into that rather lackluster display of reassurance. It was nice… not particularly the display she had been hoping for, but nice. She slowly reached for her chopsticks and broke them apart. "Thanks, Neji." She paused while he began to break apart his chopsticks. "Hey, would you mind going shopping with me?" he dropped his chopsticks in surprise. "I-uh normally wouldn't ask, but I would appreciate a second opinion on whether or not I look good."

"You always look good." She blushed and turned away while she picked at her food. "It was my turn to make you embarrassed." She turned back to see that he had the biggest shit-eating grin she'd ever seen on his face.

She huffed and punched him in the arm. "You ass." They continued their meal in relative silence. Well, Neji experienced silence.

_Awwwwwwwww. THAT'S ADORABLE!_

_SHUT UP! _No one asked you Mamoru.

_My little babies growing up. It'd bring a tear to my eye if I had any tear ducts._

_Oh kami, every time! Why do you love torturing me!?_

_It is just so adorable how you got all flustered when he said he thought you were cute._

_He didn't say that! He said I look good… AND I DO ALWAYS LOOK GOOD MAMORU!_

_I can personally attest to the falseness of that statement. Hikari I lived with you, I know what you look like when you first get out of bed. Your hair is all over the place. Takes you 10 minutes to get those suckers to be as straight as you like to keep it._

_When I get out to the forest I'm going to punch you so hard._

* * *

><p>"What about this one?" Neji held up a red skirt.<p>

"Well, I can't do that one for two reasons. One, it is a skirt and ninja-ing requires a lot of jumping and flipping. Two, red kinda stands out a lot. I'd prefer greens, blacks, greys… and maybe purple."

"Purple?"

"I like purple." He shrugged and continued meandering around. He didn't really have a knack for anything like clothes shopping, shampoos and conditioners thought he was going to be her go to guy. Eventually she decided on black tight-fitting pants and a light grey ¾ sleeve shirt with a dark purple circle on the back of it with an insignia she didn't really recognize on it. It was black and looked like three curved kunai whose blades met at the center and the handle went outwards until it reached the end of the circle. It was interesting, and she liked the way it looked on her.

"Why did you buy eight sets?" Neji requested from his position behind her, he was helping her carry some of her bags.

"Because what would I buy on my laundry day after the week is up? I can't exactly be naked once a week while I do my laundry." He blushed and walked forward to be side by side with her.

They made their way back to her apartment, where they were going to drop off the clothes. "Would you like some tea? I understand that it is customary to ask someone if they want a hot beverage when they enter your house." Neji didn't leave his position that he had near the doorway.

_DANGER! BOY IN APARTMENT! HAVE HIM EVACUATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL SUMMON MYSELF AND SWALLOW HIM WHOLE!_

_Don't you dare._

"No thank you, I need to get going back to the compound. I've been gone for a while and they are no doubt wondering where I am."

_I BET THEY ARE LOVER BOY!_

_MAMORU! _"I understand, thanks for spending some time shopping with me, I realize that that probably wasn't exactly how you were planning to spend your day."

"I enjoyed it more than I expected I would, it was interesting to say the least."

_He hasn't left yet._

"Thanks." She walked herself next to the door and leaned on it. "Maybe we could do it again sometime?"

"Next time I require clothing I will be sure to make you aware." He paused for a moment before continuing "So that you can repay me for this favor."

She smiled. "Of course, I always pay my debts Neji." She leaned forwards and kissed him on his cheek before she took her bags and closed the door behind her.

_That was actually pretty smooth, I like that. Smooch and then slam the door in his face, it's a winning combo. I mean as far as first dates go it isn't half bad._

_It wasn't a date._

_Let's look at this empirically shall we?_

_Oh kami, please kill me. _

_You had dinner, you went shopping, he walked you home, and you kissed him goodbye… I'm not an expert-_

_You're right you aren't._

_BUT it does look and sound like a date._

_I'm going to punch you so hard twice._

* * *

><p>The next few days Hikari spent relaxing, reading, creating deadly poisons, just the basic teenage girl kinda stuff. It wasn't until the fourth days that she heard a rather surprising knock at her door. She opened it to reveal a member of the ANBU standing in her doorway. "The Hokage wishes to see you." And he disappeared… <em>alright, looks like I'm headed to the Hokage's tower.<em>

She walked her way into his office to find him behind another one of his mountains of paper work. "Hello, Hokage-Sama. Another busy day?" she gave him a pleasant smile before sitting down in front of him."

"Yes, so it seems that way. Well, I have decided who it is that is going to be your sensei. She has a similar attitude towards snakes that you do." Hikari visibly brightened at the prospect of a sensei that liked snakes. "She is a little on the wild side in terms of her disposition, but-"

"NO NO NO NO NO!" A woman with violet hair wearing some kind of tan coat over a mesh body suit ran into the office and slammed her hands onto the Hokage's desk. "I am not taking some snot nosed kid out with me on my missions!"

The Hokage didn't even looked phased. "It is an honor to be chosen to take on an apprentice, and the extra responsibility will do you some good." He said the next part under his breath. "and maybe it'll calm you down a little bit."

"I don't want some kid slowing me down!" she turned around and saw Hikari sitting in the chair. "LOOK AT HER! You want me to teach her? She'd be better off if you just threw to the sharks now."

"Anko, she is your charge, you will teach her to become a strong and passionate shinobi. If there were anyone better than you who I could get to teach her, but we both know there isn't."

_Oh he is smart, playing a little bit of the pride card_

Anko began mumbling something under her breath. Hikari couldn't really make it out, but it was probably a string of curses so vile it'd make her poor little virgin ears bleed. "Fine. I'll teach your little brat." She left the office. Hikari looked from her to the Hokage a few times before he signaled for her to follow Anko out the door.

Anko was walking pretty quickly, "I don't think I'm gonna like you, kid."

_She seems like the type of person who appreciates brutal honesty. _"Well, whether you like me or not, I guess I am going to have to deal with a big breasted amalgamation of levity and mild insanity for a sensei."

Anko stopped in her tracks and stared at her with her light brown eyes. "Big breasted? You really think so? I've changed my mind kid, we will get along just fine. Let's get some dango!" she continued walking off at a slightly brisker pace.

_Hikari… I don't know how you get away with this so often. I swear, if this were any other village someone would have killed you by now._

The two of them sat across each other in the dango shop. "Alright kiddo, before we start our training we are supposed to do a little introduction thing. So just tell me something like name, likes, dislikes, and a dream."

"I don't have dreams."

"Not like actual dreams you weirdo. Something like aspirations."

"Oh… my name is Hikari Hebi, I like snakes and reading, I don't like shopping, and I guess right now my dream is to capture Orochimaru." Anko began choking on her dango. And had to punch herself in the chest a few times in order to get herself situated.

"That is a pretty big dream there." She said after she had managed to get herself composed again. "But you'll have to get in line. Because it's going to be me who kills Orochimaru."

"Why you?" Hikari was genuinely curious, she wanted to know the reason someone else would want to kill Orochimaru. She wanted him so that she could prove her loyalty to the Leaf Village.

"Because I'm his student." She tossed a dango ball into the air and caught it in her mouth chewing on it contentedly.

"Oh?" Anko nodded her head smugly. "I'm his daughter." Anko choked on her dango again.

"Daughter?" Hikari nodded her head, it was her turn to be smug. "Well, in that case we will have a race to see who can kill the bastard first."

Hikari smiled. "You're on sensei." The two of them finished eating their dango before they headed to the genin-level training fields. They entered through a gate that marked as training field 9 and walked towards the middle.

"Alright, this is where you and I are going to fight. This is pretty much just a simple training exercise so that I can gauge what kind of a fighter you are, and where it is that you shine. That being said, loser pays for the next time the two of us go out for dango." She smiled and put her hands on her hips triumphantly.

"That's hardly fair, sensei."

"Never said I was fair, kiddo." Hikari sighed heavily. "Our fight begins now."

Hikari quickly summoned her Spear of the Serpent and charged Anko. She struck at her in a wide arch, but Anko deftly flipped over the strike. It seemed that no matter what, Anko was just avoiding the blows, not even trying to go on the offensive. Hikari planted the spearhead into the ground and casted Striking Shadow Snake, as she was doing that Anko casted her own Striking Shadow Snake, and their snakes collided with each other in the middle. Hikari sprinted towards Anko in an attempt to force her into a Taijutsu brawl. Once again, Anko focused entirely on blocking or evading Hikari's strikes. She managed to land a couple of glancing blows on a few of the chakra points in Anko's arms, but it wasn't going to be anything debilitating. It probably wouldn't even slow down a jonin like Anko. She tried to use the Predator genjutsu she had learned but Anko just smiled.

"Come on Kid! You are gonna have to do better than this if you want to beat an S-class criminal!" Hikari activated her Sharingan and continued her assault with her modified Gentle Palm technique. Even though her eyes were fast enough to see the openings Anko left for her, her hands weren't fast enough to capitalize on them.

_Hey, Mamoru-Kun. I think it is about time you made your first combat debut._

_It is about time!_

Hikari applied a small amount of chakra into the kanji that said Mamoru, and he erupted immediately from the earth besides her. "Anko, this is my friend Mamoru."

"Hello." Mamoru and Hikari both plastered on a rather ominously similar smile… like they had practiced it before.

Mamoru struck out to knock Anko off balance and tried to use the rest of his length to smack her. Once again though, Anko was able to jump and dodge out of the way of most of their combined efforts. Anko gave them both her own smile. "I guess it's time I introduced my own friend." She performed the hand signs and drew a little bit of blood before slamming it to the ground to summon her own snake that was similar in size to Mamoru. Both Kunoichi jumped onto the heads of their prospective snakes. Hikari drew a few of her senbon and Anko did the same.

_As long as she focuses on the two of us I'm hoping she doesn't notice the little surprise that we left. _She threw senbon after senbon, but they were all deflected mid-air by Anko's own. _Just a few more seconds need to get her right in front of us. _Once she had herself properly aligned, she jumped from Mamoru's head towards Anko, and pulled on the chakra strings she had attached to her spear behind her to send it soaring towards Anko. Anko barely had time to dodge it before Hikari landed next to her and hit her in the stomach with her Gentle Palm technique.

Anko heaved and then smiled. She then proceeded to punch Hikari in the chest, sending her flying from her mount atop the snake onto the ground 15 feet below. She landed on her back and had the wind knocked out of her. Every breath was like a small fire roaring its way through her lungs. Anko's summoned animal disappeared in a puff of smoke. She walked her way to Hikari and leaned over her head. "Pretty good, kiddo." She gave her a big smile. "Looks like my student isn't as worthless as I first though." She started walking away. "First missions tomorrow at 9, meet me at the Hokage's office."

"'Kay." She said weakly from her position on the ground.

"Don't forget, you're buying the dango next time!"

"'Kay."

_I like her_

_No one asked you Mamoru… how are you going to get back to the forest?_

_I guess… I'll start slithering._

_I'm going to go sit in the onsen for a few hours… _she walked slowly and sorely.

She walked into the nearest onsen and enjoyed herself a wonderfully long soak. There wasn't anyone else there so it was wonderfully peaceful. After a few blissful hours of peace and quiet she made her way back to her apartment.

* * *

><p>She made her way into her room and began preparing dinner for herself when she heard a knock at the door. "Just a second." She walked over to her door and opened it… Sasuke? The surprise on her face was quite obvious. "Uhh… how did you find out where I live?"<p>

"Is that how you greet family at the door?" He had a smirk on his face. Like what he had just said had been quite witty.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm making dinner, you want some?" He nodded. "Alright, then come on in." She turned around and went back to the meal she was preparing. "So, why is it that I find you at my doorstep tonight?"

"hmmph."

"What a conversationalist you are. I bet the ladies are fawning all over you."

"You'd be surprised actually."

Hikari almost instantaneously appeared next to him. "Really? Aww that's adorable." She grabbed him in a rather aggressive hug and began shaking him back and forth. "So have you got yourself a little girlfriend yet? OH young love, there is nothing sweeter"

"NO! And you're barely a year older than me!" he yelled trying to squirrel his way out of her grasp.

Hikari wasn't having it though. "So what's her name? Now that we are family, I get to decide whether she gets to stay or whether I get to throw her from my balcony." She gave him a smile of genuine excitement.

Sasuke was not expecting this time of family get together at all. "Get off of me!"

She released him from her grasp. "Fine, fine, don't tell me. Anyways, we are having chicken and rice for dinner with some sautéed veggies… It's kinda one of the only things I know how to cook that isn't a breakfast food, BUT I am damn good at it." He nodded, and she got a plate ready for him.

"So… when did you find out the two of us were related?"

She started picking at her food. "A few days ago. How did you like the way I ended up breaking it to you?"

"Not a fan."

"Sorry about that, I honestly wasn't expecting to just run into you like that, and I got a little flustered." She gave him an apologetic smile. "Probably still could have gone about it better though."

"So, I'll need to add you to our family tree, do you know who your parents were?"

She looked away from him and moved her eyes to her plate. "You aren't going to want me in your family tree… My father… wasn't exactly someone you'd want to admit to being related to." She turned back to him and gave him a practiced, but strained smile. "So we'll just keep me off the books, ok?"

"Oh, ok…" he didn't seem very comfortable trying to maintain a dialogue.

"You really aren't much of a talker are you? You know, I know another guy who doesn't talk much." She leaned in closer like she was gonna tell him a secret. "He's a cutie too, but don't tell him I told you that, he'd find a way to hold it over me for the rest of my life."

_I KNEW IT! I CALLED IT! CALLED IT SO HARD! NO WAY IS HE ALLOWED BACK IN THE HOUSE!_

Sasuke gave her a wry grin. "I don't usually like people like you."

"Well aren't you just a sweetheart, the more time we spend together the less I believe that you are beating away the ladies with a stick."

"You didn't let me finish. I don't usually like people like you, but it is also kind of refreshing."

"Hmmm… that's not much of a compliment. Is it even a compliment at all?" He nodded his head. "I suppose I'll say thank you, but if you ever want to keep a lady, you are going to have to work on you conversational skills."

"You keep saying that."

They finished the rest of their dinner using basic small talk. She asked how he was doing in the academy, and that she was glad that he was probably going to be the rookie of the year for his class. He left and she did the dishes and moved to her bed.

_He's a nice kid, but a bit of a weirdo._

_Hikari, you can hardly judge._


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Note:

I don't really have anything to say this time, other than that I appreciate all the follows and reviews and stuff that I've been getting. I'm itching soooooo hard to get to those Chunin exams, I know what it is I want to get done there as well as for a while afterwards, but ITS GETTING TO THAT POINT THAT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY! Damn characters need to develop. YES IM STILL UPSET ABOUT THAT! *cough* right, I'll see you guys next time. :D

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Ch 5

Hikari got up bright and early to get ready for her very first mission! She straightened her hair, shaved her legs, wrapped her arms and legs, put on her lucky snake kunai holster, and was off to start her first day as a real ninja.

GET READY WORLD BECAUSE HIKARI IS ABOUT TO "pick up trash?! That's not a job for a ninja!" Hikari complained after Anko had told her their mission.

"Look, kid. Everybody has to do the shitty d-rank missions when they start off. You'll probably only have to do them for a week or two, and then we are gonna get to start some real missions… although those will also probably be pretty boring." Anko started pushing Hikari in the direction of her… it was really more of a chore than it was a mission.

"Hey, when I'm done with this mission, wanna go and embarrass my… cousin?" cousin is close enough to the truth, and it sounds way better than 'estranged relative of unknown relation.'

"I am totally down, why?"

"He told me that he had girls fawning all over him, I want to see if he really does, and if so, I think I'm gonna embarrass him a little." She smiled with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Sounds like fun, we'll head over to the academy during lunch. I love torturing little brats."

"We make a pretty good pair… I'm still not happy about picking up garbage." She added dejectedly.

"Well that's tough shit I guess."

Hikari couldn't help but laugh a little as they made their way to the park that she would be forced into picking up. It was a mess, there were cans, wrappers, bags, everything that could possibly be considered refuse just strewn around the entire park. This was gonna take hours, even with her snakes helping out… and she did make all of her smaller snake assist in the pickup. It was noon before she had finally gotten the park cleaned up. Anko didn't even help. Because she was "a jonin who had already paid her dues of genin servitude to the village" _lazy bitch._

_Language, naughty word._

"Now that we have completed this farce of a mission… how 'bout we get to the fun stuff?" she clapped and started rubbing her hands together deviously.

Anko bopped her on the head. "Not until we send the mission report to the Hokage. Then the fun begins."

They returned to the Hokage, gave him the report about their "mission," and headed off to the academy to spy on Sasuke. They snuck up to the second floor by walking up the wall and slowly popped their head over the window. They saw Sasuke eating his bento in his seat with a small gaggle of girls talking about how cool he was.

"So… the black haired one is your cousin? I don't see the relation… He looks way better than you do."

"That hurts Anko. Just stand there and watch, this is gonna be good." Hikari jumped from the buildings side and ran into the academy. Seconds later, Anko saw Hikari burst through the door with an obnoxiously loud "Sasuke-Kun!" She sprinted to his desk and literally pounced on him. Anko had to stifle a giggle at the theatrics the girl was putting on. "I had such a great time with you last night that I thought we should do it again! How does tomorrow at my place sound?" His eyes widened in uncontained terror as it dawned on him what it was she was doing. She gave him a little peck on the cheek, hopped off him and jogged to the door. "See you then, cutie pie!" She left and closed the door behind her. The mass of girls began to seethe in barely controlled rage at the unknown kunoichi who had just walked in and put a smooch on THEIR SASUKE! Hikari opened the door again slightly and leaned in. "Oh, and if you don't show up," her countenance visibly darkened, "I'll throw you into the wall again." She smiled and waved goodbye as she once again made her exit. Sasuke shook, although Anko couldn't really tell if it was in anger or embarrassment. Anko began laughing uncontrollably and lost her grip on the side of the building, landing deftly next to her apprentice. "So, what do you think? Totally worth it?"

"Totally worth it." Anko clasped her arm around her little trouble maker. "Now, it is time for you to pay for my dango!"

She began walking her towards the nearest dango shop. "You remembered that huh?"

"I never forget complimentary dango!"

The next day was an equally lame and boring mission. Dog walking_. Oh joy, I can barely contain my excitement she says with heavy sarcasm._

_Did you just refer to yourself as "she?"_

_Look, being a d-class ninja is boring as balls I got to mix it up a little._

_I understand. _

After she finished her chores for the day, it was back to training. And Anko was a slave driver, it wasn't enough that Anko was able to hit a bullseye from 50 yards with a senbon, she should be able to nail a moving fly's wing to a tree without killing the little bastard from that distance. She wasn't fast or strong enough to be what Anko considered a front line fighter, so she forced her to wear chakra weights on her arms and legs. They were designed so that even as the user gets stronger and faster, their weight increases by that same amount, gradually increasing its resistance, but making the wielder feel like they hadn't improved. She had to wear them at all times. FRUSTRATING. She even made a game that she called "dodge me while it try to punch you as hard as I can." Hikari did not like that game. That game hurt. Anko even made her go to a spear-master to help her improve her "lackluster performance with the blade." SHE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO LEARN ANY COOL NEW JUTSU YET!

After her first day of training she was even more sore than she used to be. It was like sore on top of soreness, her muscles ached and begged for her to take a nap or something. She ignored her muscles and instead began cooking dinner for her and Sasuke, she wasn't exactly anticipating his arrival with baited breath, but if he did decide it was in his best interest to come (because it was) she would need a plate ready for him. She heard a knock on the door. "Come on in, it is open!" Sasuke opened the door and he did not look amused… to be fair though she hadn't really ever seen him amused so it wasn't really saying much. "So how was class?" she gave him a smile.

"Well, thanks to you, the girls are trying even harder to gain my attention. Something about not wanting some big-breasted bimbo stealing me away from them." He walked to the table and sat down.

"Big-breasted? I'm a mid level b-cup... and I keep myself wrapped. If they think I'm big breasted wait till they get a look at my sensei. I mean dayum, she got some tig ole bitties." (authors note: this has literally been my favorite line I've written so far, I giggle so hard every time I imaging Hikari saying this.)

_Where did you learn that?_

_Not important right now._

"I was already annoyed with their attentions and you have only made it worse." He shrugged.

"You know, of all the girls that were following you around, I disliked the pink haired one least." She said as she put the food for the two of them onto their assorted plates.

"That's quite a ringing endorsement." He said with a voice dripping in sarcasm.

"I know." She placed his plate in front of him and poured him some tea… which was when she noticed that they were being watched. She slowly made her way to the window. "It's a little stuffy in here, I'm going to open up the window Sasuke-Kun." She smiled. He looked at her with obvious confusion, it wasn't stuffy in here at all and she only called him Sasuke-Kun like that when she was putting on an act. She opened up the window. "Ahh, that's so much better."

What Sasuke saw next was her jumping out the window, followed by a particularly violent sounding commotion outside and then silence. Proceeded immediately by Hikari reappearing in the window with two kunoichi slung under her arms. "I don't remember inviting these two, did you?" She placed the blond and pink haired girls into her room. "Sasuke, why don't you finish your meal and then head out… I think I'm going to have some fun with these two." She gave a rather terrifying smile and Sasuke shuddered. He quickly wolfed down his meal and left.

_Alright, time to create a terrifying atmosphere._

She tied the two girls up to her chairs and turned off all the lights in her apartment and lit a single candle in the middle of the table that was before the two girls. She also summoned a 2 foot long (non-venomous) snake and kept him wrapped around her arm more for scare factor than anything else. She flicked water on the two of them to wake them up. "Hello there girls. Welcome to hell." She licked her lips, making both the girls shudder. "I have a few questions to ask you…" she put the arm with the snake on it on the table and positioned her hand so that the eyes of the snake was level with their gaze "you don't mind, do you?" They both shook their heads, eyes full of unremitted terror. "Good, good… Let's start with names, huh? You first Pinky." Hikari smiled.

"S-Sakura Haruno."

_Aww, the poor girls are close to tears_

_Next time they'll know that if she is going to spy, she better do it right._

"Ino Y-Yamanaka"

"Not so hard, now… I'm not big on being spied on, especially when it is during family time with Sasuke." They both mouthed 'family in disbelief. She put a little bit of rage in her eyes. "And even more so when the attempt on spying is so poorly concealed!" They cringed. "Oh, Pinky. You had so much promise, I was rooting for you, really I was. So, what is your punishment going to be?" Tears started appearing in their eyes. Hikari drew a Kunai and walked behind the two of them. She leaned over between the two of them. "I think I have a general idea." She licked her lips. "You'll be doing the dishes tonight." She cut the ropes holding the two of them and walked over to turn on the lights in her apartment. The two girls were sitting there in absolute shock. She laughed and gave them a real smile, not a creepy one. "What were you expecting? It wasn't really a big deal, just thought it'd be fun to scare you." They continued sitting there. "I believe there are dishes for you to wash." She continued with no humor in her voice.

The two girls shot up and ran immediately to her sink. "I'm still rooting for you Pinky!" She walked into her room and lay on her bed. She heard the two girls arguing with each other, something about one of theirs dumb plan and something along the lines of an "Ino-pig" and a "Billboard brow." She waited to hear the girls leave her apartment before passing into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>"YOU DID WHAT?!" Anko was holding her sides laughing.<p>

"I taught them a valuable lesson in their ninja training. If you are going to spy on someone, make sure you aren't incompetent." She smiled and continued picking up the trash that had accumulated in the river. Theses missions were literally killing her with boredom.

After the mission it was training time with Anko. "Alright, kiddo. It is about time that I teach you a brand spankin' new jutsu, but before we really get started I am going to have to know your chakra nature. So, take these charka litmus papers, and send a pulse of chakra into in." Hikari nodded her head and placed her on the litmus paper. As she sent a pulse of chakra through it, the paper turned to ash and was blown away. "Excellent! A fire nature! I'm partial to the fire style jutsus myself."

"So… my chakra nature is fire." Hikari began opening and closing her fists in front of her. "Well, let's get started." She activated her Sharingan. "Show me what I'm working with! It is about time!"

"Slow your role kid, first some breathing exercises while we head down to the lake." She walked of in the direction of the nearest lake.

"Breathing exercises? I know how to breathe, Anko." She replied dejectedly. "Why has there got to be so many steps involving new jutsu?"

"You may know how to breathe, but can you breathe fire?" She didn't even pause long enough for Hikari to answer. "Didn't think so. A huge number of wounds that result from fire jutsus are self-inflicted, if you do it improperly, you can do irreparable damage to your lungs and throat, not to mention that you can still get burned by your own jutsu on the outside as well. So, are you ready to stop complaining?" Hikari just mumbled under her breath. "Good! Breathing exercises it is." The two of them spent the next two hours on the proper technique that she would need in order to keep herself safe. It turned out, that the longer you could maintain your breathing, the larger and more powerful the jutsu was.

"Alright kiddo, time for your first fire style technique are you ready?" Hikari nodded enthusiastically. Anko proceeded to do hand signs, Hikari following immediately afterwards. "Fire style: Fire Finger Jutsu!" A small flicker of flame about the size of a baseball appeared over Anko's pointer finger and remained there.

"THAT'S IT!? THAT DIDN'T REQUIRE BREATHING AT ALL!" Hikari was furious, and what made her even more so was that she had failed to even create the tiniest spark.

_You got played girl. _

"Yea, but it is the precursor to almost all fire style jutsu, if you can't contain a fire like this. How on earth do you think you are going to be able to control a big-ass fire?" She nodded. "Damn straight, you won't. You'll be cooked alive by your own jutsu, and then my face would be all red and embarrassed because I'd have to explain to the Hokage how my student was an idiot." Anko laid down in front of the lake. "When you start getting a fire going wake me up." Anko pulled out a book from the make-out paradise series and started reading.

_My sensei is reading porn in front of me right now… I don't know how I feel about this._

_Feel dirty! NO PORN FOR YOU! Not until you're… 30._

_30? Mamoru that's not fair!_

_As long as you live under my house you'll follow my rules._

_Yes sir… _seconds pass, _HEY WAIT! MAMORU, I LIVE IN MY OWN HOUSE!_

_I wanted to see how long it'd take you to notice that. Sadly, you did do better than I suspected._

Hikari started doing the hand signs and building up her chakra into her hands in order to hopefully get a decent flame going, but most of the time the flame just sputtered and died in her hands. _Maybe if instead of doing a chakra pulse to make the flame, I'll need to use a steady stream of chakra in order to control and maintain the fire the way that I want too. _Hikari tried it out, and the flame sputtered into existence and then weakened severely, this thing wouldn't be able to light fireworks, forget about the idea of it being a useful tool in combat. She tried to force addition chakra to the tip of her pointer finger, and it began to roar to life… well compared to before. This time it was about the size of a quarter.

_Well, at least you are improving. _It took her two hours before she could consistently get about a baseball sized fire over her fingers and maintain it for about 4 seconds before it flickered away into non-existence.

Anko had fallen asleep under a tree and was snoring lightly with her book on top of her face. It'd be adorable if I didn't know what kind of terrifying things she was capable of. "Hey, Big Boob-Sensei. I got the little fireball thing down."

Anko opened her eyes. "Good! Now…" she pulled out a scroll from her pocket, and opened it. It was some sort of containment seal. She activated it and pulled out a 15 foot plank and walked 30 feet onto the lakes surface and then pushed the plank into the water until it stood upright. "Throw your little ball and hit this plank… I'm going back to sleep."

"Sure, no problem." She walked forward to the lakes edge and activated the Fire Finger Jutsu. She focused on the target, had a clear idea of what it was she wanted the fire to do, flicked her arm towards the plank, and… the fire sputtered and died immediately inches away from where she threw it. _Shit._

_Language, naughty word. _

_Shut up, this is frustrating. Now in addition to keeping the fire going I need to be able to propel it… how? It never actually touches my hand, so it isn't really "throwable."_

_Remember how you used to use chakra pulses to move your pencil back at the academy? Would that work? Just use a bigger pulse._

_So, have a constant stream of chakra to maintain the flame, and then when I want to get it moving send a large pulse… Mamoru you are a genius! _She developed her chakra ball and maintained it for a second before enacting a large pulse to send it flying… 15 feet to the left of her target… _this is gonna take some more work._

It was another hour of work before she was able to actually hit the completely stationary wooden plank, and even then, the velocity of the fireball was inordinately slow, but the moment she hit it felt like glorious victory! "YES! I did it! TAKE THAT YOU PIECE OF WOOD! HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?" Hikari started jumping around in excitement.

"Kami, kid. Would you stop yelling so much?" Anko sat up. "Oh, so you finally hit the wood?" She looked up at the sky. "Took you long enough." She stood up and stretched. "Alright, that's enough training for today. Tomorrow we will work on the good stuff… maybe." Hikari fell to the ground. "Keep practicing, I know it may not seem like much, but it can still be a powerful jutsu when done right." She used the hand sign and created a fireball over her finger and proceeded to fire a dozen baseball sized fireballs into the lake at incredible velocities. "See? Just some more practice. You'll get it down." Anko walked off.

Hikari practiced the jutsu until the sun had made its escape across the sky, and her arm was so sore from prolonged chakra exposure that it hurt to move it. Her fire had gotten to the point where it could either be relatively fast or relatively accurate, but not both. It was going to have to be good enough for the day, she wasn't giving up, she'd be damned if the first jutsu she had ever failed at was going to be a beginner level cantrip.

She made her way to her home and immediately sat on her small couch, massaging her right arm in order to alleviate some of the stiffness. She had hardly had time to relax five minutes before a knock came at her door. _Noooooooo! I swear every time I start to relax. _She got up and opened the door unenthusiastically. "What do you want?" she said grumpily before looking up to see who it was that was visiting her. It was Neji, of course it was Neji. Kami forbid he show up when she didn't smell like smoke and she looked like a mess from training all day.

"I believe I am owed a compatriot for food and shopping." He paused for a moment and sniffed the air. "Have you been smoking?" Hikari slapped her hand toward her head.

"No, I've been practicing my fire style jutsu all day. That's why I look so gross and smell like smoke." She gestured into her apartment. "Wanna come in and have some tea while I get cleaned up a bit?"

_Whoa whoa whoa… We've established no boys in the apartment._

_I can hardly leave him standing in the hallway!_

"Tea would sound lovely." He smiled, an actual smile, not one of his smirks that he usually had.

As she prepared the tea she asked. "So how are the final days of the academy life suiting you? How much longer till you get to be part of a team?"

He shrugged. "Just as dull and repetitive as they usually are. The final exam is in a few days, and the day after that we are assigned to a sensei." He turned to her. "How is training one-on one with a jonin treating you?"

Hikari let out a small laugh. "She is treating me harshly, I swear she may play around and goof off, but she expects perfection out of me, and won't accept anything else." She pointed to the chakra weights on her arms and legs. "It's why she is making me wear this stuff."

She walked over and handed Neji a cup of tea before she went to her room to go get changed.

_Look, I know you think he is a cutie-pie, and you are perfectly entitled to your own opinions…_

_I'm sensing a but here Mamoru._

_-BUT-_

_Nailed it._

_You should be careful._

_Careful? If he tries anything I don't like, I can always just break his arms or something._

_I would prefer that if he tried anything at all you'd break his arms._

_Yea, but if you had it your way the only thing I'd ever do is train and read._

_Training and reading are important!_

_I know they are Mamoru-Kun, but maybe I want to do something where I feel… wanted… and not so alone._

_Oh Imouto._ He only ever called her that when he was trying to be consoling. She didn't know why, but it always helped._ Is that why you are always so happy to see Neji? _

_I know why the people look at me that way. It's always the same. They think I'm some kind of monster because I'm friends with snakes and I have all the physical attributes and ½ the genes of Konoha's greatest criminal… but that doesn't make it hurt less… Even after all that work we did to help rescue people all those years ago. They still thought I was a freak... So maybe it's nice to forget for a little while what I am, and just enjoy being who I am._

_That was very poetic, but it doesn't matter if others see you that way. There's Lee, Hinata, Sasuke, the Hokage, even Anko. Who cares what other people think about you? You can't have all of Konoha be your clan, I've told you that before. Just fight for the people you love and the people who love you and forget about what the rest say. Once people see how hard it is that you fight for the people you care about, there won't be any question in their minds that you are nothing like Orochimaru._

Hikari began dressing into cleaner clothes and washed her face to clean away the dirt and tears. _How did we get from a conversation about boys to such a depressing topic? _

_Hell if I know, something about breaking arms I guess._

_Thanks Mamoru-Kun_

_No problem, little one._

* * *

><p>Neji took the two of them to a new Korean barbecue place where they let you cook the meat and veggies yourself, which only resulted in a few pieces of burnt rubbery beef, thankfully. They sat there in comfortable silence, occasionally bringing up small talk, like how Lee had started hanging out with this weird guy who wouldn't stop talking about youth or how Karizake-Sensei had made one of the students run laps around the school for two hours for talking too much. Hikari showed off her Fire Finger Jutsu, which wasn't particularly impressive, but was useful for relighting the coals on their grill.<p>

After they had concluded their meal, Neji said that he needed to pick up some groceries, which included the shampoo and conditioner he used (Konoherbal essence). He walked her back to her apartment. Hikari unlocked the door leading to her apartment. _I think I'm going to do it._

_Do what?_

She turned around and looked up at him. "You know, I had a lot of fun on this date."

"D-Date?" Neji blushed a lot.

_DO WHAT?_

"Yep, I really enjoyed it." She walked forward just a little bit. He looked a bit apprehensive, like he wasn't sure if he wanted to see where she was going with this, or just sprint away. She leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers for only a second, before she turned around and entered her apartment. She heard his groceries hit the floor, and silently wished that she could have had a way to see his reaction to it. She leaned her head back against the door, touched her hand to her lips and smiled.

_Oh… you had me really worried there for a second. Saying something like that and then going all silent on me. NOT COOL HIKARI! Although you did do the whole kiss throw door in face thing again._

_I did indeed._

_Well… at least you get to do something interesting. I've been slithering around this forest in intense boredom._

_Yea, well I don't have the money to afford a giant snake day care._

_Is that a thing?_

_Doubtful._

* * *

><p>The next day was the same as any other day, except that she was finally going to be putting all those breathing exercises to use. "Alright, here is the hand signs you are going to be using for the Fireball Jutsu." Hikari activated her Sharingan and observed and replicated them almost instantaneously. "You should feel the chakra become heated in your chest and belly and then you exhale. Different types of exhalations work better with the different types of fire jutsu. For this one, you're going to want to exhale consistently and maintain the form of the fireball." She performed the signs again and exhaled creating a massive ball of fire over the lake. "Your turn."<p>

Hikari performed the hand signs, took in a large breath, felt the chakra accumulate in her gut and become heated and exhaled to create a small breath of fire that dissipated almost immediately and didn't even have time to take the form of a ball. Anko pulled out her book and returned to the tree she had sat under yesterday. "Wake me up when you manage to make a fire jutsu that is less embarrassing."

_Bitch. _Mamoru and Hikari thought at the same time.

She stood in front of the lake and did all of her preparations for the Fireball. And continued to make pathetic little streams of fire that failed to coalesce properly. _This is going to take some work. _She noticed that the larger the breath the more flame she had been able to expend, but it didn't with the fire's form. So, that part had to be changed by the chakra being changed in her belly and chest… maybe she needed to heat it up more?

She increased the total amount of chakra and attempted to get it flowing properly. She exhaled and slowly began forming a small ball of flame before her. While Anko's had been a raging inferno the size of a small house, hers was more like an intense heat the size of a watermelon. _Not good enough, but better. _She practiced for hours, constantly increasing the total amount of chakra expended and controlled, as well as utilizing her breathing techniques to keep herself from getting lightheaded. She had finally managed to create a fireball about ½ the size and intensity of Anko's, but at this point her chakra had been completely spent. Everything tasted like ash and her throat was sore. "Hey, Anko-sensei!" Anko looked up from her nap. "I got it to be about ½ yours, does that count as less embarrassing?"

She looked up to the see how long it was that she'd been asleep. The fact that Hikari had managed to use the jutsu for as long as she had meant that she had some incredible chakra reserves. Impressive. Anko wouldn't tell her that of course, last thing she'd want would be to let her little student think she was actually impressed by something she'd done. It would help her drive to improve… that had been what Orochimaru had done for her. She still remembered how, as a child, she had treasured every bit of praise he had ever given her like a precious gem. He had been her hero, and he had thrown her away like chaff to the wind.

"Uh, hello? Anko? Are you still in there?" Hikari was next to her waving her hand in front of her face. "Yoohoo. It's me, your student. I'm here to take you back to the land of the living."

Anko punched her in the stomach. That put a stop to that. "Still embarrassing, but less embarrassing." She folded her arms. "I assume you have had enough for today? Have you forgotten your endurance training? Take two laps around Konoha before you retire for the day." Anko got up and began to walk away.

Hikari's jaw dropped. "Where are you going?!"

Anko turned around. "I have some business to take care of. I can trust you to finish your training right? You're a good girl." She gave her a smile before she turned away. "Later kiddo."

_I am simultaneously upset and happy… I don't like it._

_Yea, well at least you are taking some steps in the right direction._

_Better start running. _Hikari got up and began heading for the city walls. _Oh gross, I smell even worse than I did yesterday… AND EVERYTHING TASTES LIKE ASH! _

_I guess that makes sense, you have been breathing fire._

Hikari was not happy about the fact that she was running laps with such a sore throat. As she was running, breathing began to hurt, but she had a job to do, and she wasn't about to fail her Sensei. She finished her laps and immediately fell over. She was sore and it hurt to breathe. She was perfectly content to just lie down and rest for a moment. Her eyelids began to grow heavy… _just… a moment… and then… I'll keep… training._ She closed her eyes and had a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>The next two weeks were a cavalcade of sameness. Chores, strength and endurance training, spear mastery, senbon throwing, and fireball jutsu… embarrassments mostly. She had gotten the Fire Finger Jutsu to create 3 baseball sized fireballs that would all hit their targets at respectable velocities. Her Fireball Jutsu was had gone up to about ¾ size and ferocity of Anko's fireball. She had learned the Phoenix Flower Jutsu, which was a lot like the Fireball Jutsu, only with a series of small bursts of fire as opposed to just one big one. It took her a while to get that one down. Apparently, the Sharingan was adept at copying jutsu, but just because she had copied it, didn't mean she had it mastered.<p>

Hikari walked to the Hokage's office to pick up her chore for the day. When she walked in, Anko was waiting for her with the Hokage. "Good news, kiddo. Looks like you and I are going to get a real mission." Anko gave her a big smile. "It's about damn time. Hokage-Sama, I've been sitting around for weeks doing nothing but training this kid. Can you please make this mission something juicy?"

"You will be escorting a merchant and his trade caravan to Kumogakure, The Village Hidden in the Clouds. In order to reach your destination you will be passing through Frost Country and the Land of Fountains you will be given passports at the gate as well as trading permits, which should allow easy travel over their borders. They have recently been suffering from a severe food shortage, and as such the exportation of foodstuffs to their village has become especially lucrative. That being said, there have been a significant increase in bandit attacks on the roads leading into the Land of Lightning. So, this mission is a tentative C-class mission with the possibility of it transcending into a B-class. As such, we are sending you with another Jonin."

Anko didn't look too pleased about the idea of another Jonin coming along for the ride. "Pfft, please. Hikari and I can handle any bandits that are thrown at us no problem!"

"Still, you will be joined by Kakashi Hatake. Your mission will begin tomorrow morning at 8. There you will meet the convoy and head out. Normally if we were only sending ninja, the journey would take about four days, but since you are moving with civilians, we will not expect you to return for approximately 18 days. That should give you a little bit of time to rest and recharge in the village before needing to return to Konoha."

"Hai, Hokage-Sama." They both said at the same time.

"Come on Hikari. You have training to get done." Anko left the office and headed toward their training field. "I want you to punch this tree." She pointed to the tree behind her back with her thumb.

"Uhhhh… okay." Hikari walked towards it and began to raise her fist.

"Hold… remove your chakra weight." Hikari obliged, and her weights feel to the ground with an incredible thud, lifting up a small cloud of dust.

Hikari coughed. "What the hell? YOU PUT THOSE ON ME?!" Hikari launched herself at her sensei, but instead of going the distance she had expected, flew past her. The unexpected speed caused her to trip and roll about 20 feet. "OW!"

_That was graceful._

_NO ONE ASKED YOU!_

Anko started laughing. "I told you those weights would come in handy." She continued laughing. "You literally don't know your own strength!" She stopped her guffawing for a moment. "That's why I'm going to have you practice without them… it'd be embarrassing to know my student didn't know how to function without a severe handicap." She smiled. "So you'll be teaching yourself how to fight without those weights, before putting them back on of course."

Hikari stood. "Alright, Anko-Sensei. So it's a spar then? Same rules as usual?"

"That's right! LOSER BUYS DANGO!" She got herself into a defensive stance.

Hikari spent a few moments becoming acclimated to her new speed before she charged Anko. This time, she stopped appropriately in front of her, and used her momentum to attempt to flip and do a falling kick, but instead of hitting Anko, she created a small crater where Anko had been. "Looks like I'll have to actually go on the offensive this time." Anko activated her Sharingan in enough time to see Anko's punch and moved just quickly enough to block. The two of them continued trading blow after blow, Hikari began using her modified gentle fist technique, but neither of them gave the other an opening they could readily exploit. Anko leveled a kick to Hikari's head, which she caught, but then Anko used her positioning to pull herself into the air, turned, and had the other leg connect with Hikari's skull, sending the girl crashing across the training field.

Hikari stood up quickly, despite the mild concussion she had probably suffered. "You just kicked me 50 feet across the fucking air!" She charged her again. "You'll pay for that!"

_I'd say naughty word, but you seem kinda busy…_

Once again the two of them became engaged in an intense battle for superiority. Neither of them giving any leeway. Their kicks and punches were either blocked, or entirely avoided, and neither of them managed to get any upper ground. _I'm not going to be able to beat her without doing some kind of dirty trick, but if I start using weapons or jutsu, so will she. Which means there is only one thing to do. _"Man, that guy has a really nice butt."

Anko's attention wavered for only a moment, just long enough for Hikari to hit and deactivate the chakra points that led to her right arm. With Anko's right arm out of the game, all she'd need to do was continue her assaults on her weakened side, and win a battle of attrition.

_THAT WAS YOUR PLAN!? I'M MORE UPSET BY THE FACT THAT YOU CAME UP WITH IT, THAN THE FACT THAT IT WORKED!_

Anko still ended up smashing Hikari into the ground, even with one arm down. Apparently, she had been going easy on her.

"We should get to the hospital to get ourselves looked at." She said holding her right arm

"'Kay." Hikari said from her position on the ground, breathlessly.

"And then you can buy me dango." Anko smiled as she leaned over her.

"'Kay."


	6. Chapter 6

Eyes of the Predator

Ch 6

They were waiting at the gate… They had been waiting for an hour and a half before the guy with silver hair and stupid mask showed up, alright the mask was pretty cool, but Hikari wasn't about to admit it to the guy who had left them and their client waiting so long.

Anko stood up from the wagon she had claimed as her resting spot. "About time you got here Kakashi, we've been waiting."

He put his hand through his ridiculously spiky hair. "I'm sorry, but I was lost on the path of life. You know-"

"Yea, yea." Hikari interrupted him. "Let's just go ahead and get going, we are already behind schedule." Hikari went to the front of their small caravan of three wagons full of foodstuffs to inform their benefactor that he could go ahead and get going.

"That one yours?" Kakashi asked after Hikari had moved from hearing range. "Well, she definitely inherited your spirit, that's for sure."

Anko walked up beside him. "You really think so? You know I've been trying but she doesn't really have that mild insanity down quite right yet. Still working on it though."

"Oh, I'm sure you are." Kakashi remarked boredly. They were out through the gates.

Hikari walked back towards the two of them. "This is my first time out of the village that wasn't hunting with Mamoru." Her eyes sparkled. "I'm tingling with excitement!"

"You sure you're still working on it?" Kakashi intoned. Anko merely nodded her head. "Fantastic."

* * *

><p>They made their way through the land of fire with relative ease. The civilians slowed them down, but weren't particularly a hassle. Actually, they kind of avoided the ninja team like a plague. Apparently this was a usual occurrence for ninja teams escorting a group of civilian. <em>I suppose the knowledge that we could kill them with just a flick of the wrist puts them ill at ease.<em>

_Understandable._

Their passage through the land of fountains was actually relaxing. Every night they spent at either a hot spring or spa as opposed to the cold hard ground they had slept on in the land of fire. And the even colder ground they were no doubt going to be spending their nights on in the land of frost. It was called that for a reason after all. They still managed to pass through the land of frost completely without incident though.

"Anko, I am so bored. Isn't something interesting supposed to happen on these missions? Isn't that the whole point of ninja transport?" She complained. She was walking on the left side of the second wagon with Anko walking to the right of it and Kakashi functioning as a rearguard.

Anko shrugged. "I can hardly complain. It's a paycheck. It'll get interesting once we are in the land of lightning, that's where all the bandit attacks have been centered after all."

BUT THERE WASN'T ANY, THE WHOLE THING WENT DOWN WITHOUT A HITCH DAMNIT!

"This is the lamest first mission ever Anko…" Hikari sighed from her bed in the hotel they were staying at in Kumogakure.

"Then go out and do something fun kid, we will be here for a few days. Make some contacts, go play some games, I don't know what little kids do for fun." Anko pulled out her book and continued reading.

"Fine." Hikari decided she would have a look around town. The city was huge and the elevation of a city on a mountain top did make it more difficult to breathe, but not significantly enough for it to really be a problem. She mostly just meandered around not doing much of anything, but being sure to keep out of anyone's way. Foreign ninja were generally frowned upon, even if they were there on an official mission.

It was when she passed one of their training grounds that Hikari began to taste something different in the air. It reminded her of that night so many years ago, when Konoha had been destroyed. It was similar, but noticeably different and much more faint. She followed the strange air to its source. A blonde haired woman in the middle of a small training ground.

She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads wound around her left hand. She was breathing rather heavily, so Hikari assumed that this was her working out are. _Well, Anko did tell me to make some friends. What is the worst that could happen?_

_She could kill you._

_Thank you Mamoru, thanks for that._

Hikari began walking into the training fields. She didn't really know anything about this woman, so she didn't really have a strategy about the best way to approach her. She was about to say hello when the strange woman threw a kunai at her. "Who's there?"

Hikari dodged out of the way of the kunai. "You don't exactly know who I am… actually I'm a stranger in this village." Bad course of action, the blonde woman began to charge at her. Hikari had to dodge out of the way of the woman and her massive claws that had grown out of her fingernails?! Who was this chick? Hikari swiftly released her chakra weights. "Wow, is this how you introduce yourself to new friends?" The woman did not look pleased at all. "I mean sheesh. I know the air tasted different around here, and different is usually pretty cool, but man that was pretty rude." Her countenance transformed from not pleased to outright confused.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" The woman more along the lines of demanded rather than asked.

"The name is Hikari Hebi. I am a ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I was here delivering a group of merchant bringing food and stuff, but now I'm pretty much just sitting around waiting for everyone to recharge before heading back to Konoha. Also, because the air around you tastes weird, so I wanted to have a closer look. You're interesting to say the least alright."

She returned her nails to normal. "Oh, so you're just some weird kid."

"Well you are hardly one to talk lady. Who's first interaction when dealing with someone who isn't even trying to conceal themselves it to throw kunai at them?" Hikari didn't see anything particularly different about this woman… _Hey Mamoru, what was the reason that the village was destroyed all those years ago again?_

_It was an attack by the nine-tailed fox spirit._

"Your air tastes similar to the night the nine-tailed fox rampaged across Konoha." Hikari turned her head a little to the side, as if deep in thought. "You don't really look like you have any tails though… you also don't look like a fox if I'm honest."

The lady looked really mad. "Of course I'm not the nine tails, I'm Yugito Nii, the two-tails jinchuriki!"

"Wait, who and what? I have no idea what you are talking about here lady."

This woman had murder in her eyes. "Insolent little brat! Don't act so ignorant around me, Konoha has their own jinchuriki after all, so what are you playing at?"

Genuine confusion passed over Hikari's face. "Look, you seem pretty interesting, but I have no idea what you are talking about. SO, how about we start this whole little interaction over again?" The woman now known to be Yugito charged her again. "Oh shit." Hikari flipped, dodged and ran away from the very angry woman's attacks. "If you wanted to spar you could ask nicely!"

_Do you really think smack talking is a good idea here?_

_Probably not._

Hikari summoned her spear and used it to keep the woman at a distance, whatever she was, she didn't seem to have a lot of long to mid-range hitting power. Which was excellent for Hikari, mid-range was her specialty. The woman was pretty fast though. Hikari activated her Sharingan in order to help predict the mad woman's attacks. Gentle fist was out of the question when the woman literally had claws. Which left her with her rather lackluster fire style and her snake jutsu. Then again, this chick was acting like she was trying to kill her, so maybe she should use it… not anywhere critical of course, maybe the leg would work?

Hikari threw her spear at Yugito before immediately preparing the hand signs associated with her Shadow's Fang Strike. She slid under the charging blonde and carefully grazed her hand across her opponent's right calf. No doubt severing tendons and doing severe damage to the muscle tissue in question. Yugito screamed in pain before falling over. Hikari got up off the ground before turning to the woman. "You are going to need to get to a hospital fast." She held out her hand.

Yugito gave her a murderous glare.

"Look, you don't like me, and you haven't really given me a reason to like you either, but I need to get you to the hospital before your leg suffers irreparable damage. So, you can either take my hand or you can crawl there on your own." Yugito bared her teeth and gave her a hiss. "Fine." Hikari threw a senbon into her neck. Yugito put her hand to her neck in a panic. "Don't worry, I didn't hit a vital spot, but I did hit you with a rather severe paralytic, so you should be losing a lot of your motor function right about-" the woman slumped over "-now." Hikari walked over to her and picked the woman up, giving her a piggy back ride to the nearest hospital. "Oh man, you should probably try losing some weight, and working on your interpersonal communication skills. I'm not really one to judge that kind of thing, but damn." She heard a low growl. "Look, you attacked me here. I just wanted to talk and learn about a new person like my sensei asked." Another growl. "I know, I don't think she has a really good grasp of what people do for fun either." Hikari paused. "Is the closest hospital to the left or right?" another growl. "Growl once if right, twice if left." One growl. "Thank you, that was very helpful." Hikari said cheerfully.

Another couple of sets of growls of direction later, Hikari found herself in front of a hospital. Hikari brought the two of them in. "Hi there!" She said a little too enthusiastically to the woman behind the desk. "I was training with my friend right here, and it got a little out of hand so she is going to need some medical attention." The lady behind the desk started at her. "Now." Hikari said with a distinct lack of friendliness in her tone. The woman got up from her chair to run off. They were taken to one of the medical practitioners they had available.

"What happened here?" The doctor asked as she examined Yugito's leg.

"She fell." Hikari said humorlessly.

"There is significant damage to the muscles in her leg as well as structural damage to the tendons. This will take at least 8 days to heal, even with our medical ninjutsu. Without it she would probably be crippled for weeks or even months, and you are saying it's from a fall?" The doctor asked skeptically. "Also, some kind of toxin has paralyzed her…"

"It was a pretty bad fall, you know, ninja stuff." Hikari shrugged.

_Oh you totally nailed it. No way do they not believe you._

_Shut up._

_You had that whole walk to come up with a lie and you decided on a fall?_

_Shut up!_

"Right… well, I guess we'll keep her in our care until she is all fixed up."

Hikari leaned over to Yugito. "It was nice meeting you, hopefully the next time we see each other it will be over more… amenable circumstances." Hikari turned to leave. "The paralysis will be gone in a few hours."

Hikari hurried to the hotel room her and Anko were staying in. "Hey Anko?"

She didn't even look up from her book. "What do you want, kiddo?"

"We should probably leave sooner rather than later." Hikari said embarrassment evident on her face.

"Why?" She noticed Hikari's expression. "Oh Kami, what did you do!"

* * *

><p>"Kakashi we are leaving." Anko jumped into his room and pulled him off of his bed.<p>

From his position being dragged by Anko. "I think I have missed something important."

"Genius over there just maimed the two tails jinchuriki."

"I thought you said she wasn't insane yet." He complained as he was forcibly pulled from his room.

"Yea, well we are all allowed to be wrong every once in a while."

Kakashi looked at Hikari warily. "Does she realize the political ramifications for what it is that she has done?" He then continued to look at Anko. "The fact that she managed to injure a jinchuriki at such a young age. What have you been teaching her?"

"Lectures later, leaving now!" Anko jumped from the 2nd story balcony onto the ground below, followed immediately by Hikari.

"Well… at least she has a flair for the dramatic." He sauntered back to his room to pick out his makeout paradise book before heading out directly behind them.

The group set out from the land of lightning as fast as their feet could carry them. "Hey, Anko…"

"What is it this time, kid?" Anko didn't seem too pleased.

"I think I left my chakra weights back where I was fighting Yugito…"

"Well, you are paying for a new set, those things are hella expensive." Anko returned her attention to running.

"But, wont they be able to track us if they have something with my scent on hand?"

Kakashi chimed in. "I don't particularly expect her to readily admit that she lost a fight to an 11 year old. That being said, Kumo probably is not going to take an injury to their jinchuriki lightly. There will probably be some form of diplomatic envoy to speak with the Hokage. Best if we tell him before they get there."

"I guess that means no night spent in the hot springs?" Hikari asked.

Kakashi nodded. "Yea, something like that."

They made their way double time to Konoha, only taking breaks when it was absolutely necessary. They managed to make it to Konoha in three days' time. They immediately headed to the Hokage Tower to send in their report.

"I was not expecting you back for a further four days. Did everything go according to plan?" The Hokage asked genuinely confused.

Both of the jonin gestured to Hikari. "I-uh- I might have, might have mind you, got in a fight with the Kumo jinchuriki and… temporarily made her leg unusable by doing significant internal damage to it."

Sarutobi just stared at her for a long time. "You did what?"

Kakashi sighed. "She got into a fight with Yugito Nii, and over the course of the fight managed to land a blow to her leg that crippled even a jinchuriki's healing abilities. She then proceeded to walk the woman to the hospital, after which we immediately left Kumo. This is an interesting development to say the least."

Sarutobi stared at her for a little while. "Very interesting development indeed." He motioned for the two jonin to leave. "I would like to speak to Hikari alone." The two jonin exited the room. The Hokage sighed loudly. "You place me in a very difficult position Hikari-San."

"I am sorry Hokage-Sama." Her head was downcast.

"On one hand I am very upset with the potential diplomatic disaster you have set before me." Hikari avoided his gaze and tried to make herself small. "And on the other, I am very proud of how strong it is you have become." Hikari looked up confused. "Not just anyone can do that kind of damage to a tailed-beasts host and live to tell the tale." He smiled. "Minato would be proud to see how strong you have become, he was a trouble maker too." She gave him a small smile, but there was sadness in her eyes. "So, as punishment, you will be going on the peacekeeping mission to the land of Kumo, as well as giving Yugito Nii a formal apology and spending one month as her personal attendant."

Hikari bowed. "Hai, Hokage-Sama."

"You leave tomorrow. Remember Hikari-San, I expect great things from you. So far you have not disappointed." He gave her a smile filled with genuine affection. "The Will of Fire burns strong."

A few tears began to appear in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She bowed her head. "Thank you, Hokage-Sama." He gestured for her to leave.

_That went better than expected._

_I guess it did, I just want to sleep to be honest._

_Yea, you've got a long day tomorrow._

Hikari went returned to her apartment and slept a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>The next morning Hikari went to purchase her new chakra weights. Anko was right, they were particularly expensive. It cost her the almost all of money she had made on all of her d-rank missions that wasn't reserved for her rent payments. She had to inject a significant amount of chakra into them before they weighed her down as much as her previous weights had. She wearily made her way to the front gates to wait for the people she was going to be travelling with. A few minutes later, a man wearing all black with black glasses and a bandana appeared, introducing himself as Ebisu. Apparently, he was going to be the individual in charge of the diplomacy portion of the mission. So, Hikari would be doing the repayment, and Anko… was probably going to sit around and read for a month.<p>

They made their way through the lands of fire, fountain, and frost without incident. It was no until they reached the border of the land of lightning that they were forced to deal with an unforeseen complication. The border patrol was particularly angry at the sight of three leaf ninja, which was understandable. From their point of view, the Leaf had initiated an unprovoked attack against a Kumo shinobi on Kumo land.

Shinobi of the Leaf, halt and show us your documentation." Ebisu handed them their documentation as well as their writ of diplomacy. "Everything seems to be in order here, Captain." The brown haired man wearing the standard Kumo uniform of a chunin nodded his head and sent them on their way.

It was not for another two hours that she realized that someone was following them… no, a group of someones. At least 4 individuals that left distinctive tastes on the air. Whoever was following them wasn't very good at keeping themselves hidden, they were being following with the wind at their backs, which carried their scent and made them easier to spot. So most likely not high level ninja, if ninja at all.

"Anko, we have four individuals on our tail. Any plans sensei?" Hikari turned to face her.

Anko just smiled, "We could always leave a surprise present for our followers, what do you say Hikari?"

* * *

><p>Dogu and his little band of mercenaries had been on the trail of those Leaf ninja since they had crossed the border into the land of lightning. The bounty on their head was large enough to warrant the danger that came with hunting shinobi. Even though it was night, he could perfectly make out their camp from his position in the tree. They hadn't even managed to set up a night's watch before they had settled in for the night. Amateurs. He had his men in exact locations so that they could take out all three of them in one swift blow. All that was left was to give them their signals. Right. About. NOW!<p>

Nothing happened. Why had nothing happened? He had given them the signal. What were those good for nothing sons of bitches doing? At about that moment he felt a cool metallic sensation on the back of his neck. Who was this? He hadn't even detected a presence this near him.

A young woman's voice came from behind him. "Foolish." He turned his head to see a girl no older than twelve with a spear tip to his throat. His eyes were full of terror, and then he saw no more as his wide-eyed corpse fell to the ground with a sickening crack.

Hikari cast her Fire Finger Jutsu and disposed of the corpse, leaving nothing but ash and charred ground in her wake.

* * *

><p>That wasn't how Hikari expected her first time taking a human life would be like. She had wanted it to be a battle of life and death against a superior opponent who she overcame by sheer force of will. NOT some bounty hunter who didn't even put up a fight before having his throat opened up before her eyes. Taking his life had done nothing for her, there was no satisfaction of a job well done, but there wasn't any regret either. He was planning to kill her, she simply beat him to the punch. This is what she had been trained her whole life to be wasn't it? A weapon designed to kill in service to Konoha. Maybe this kind of thing was her destiny. <em>We are all servants, it is all a matter of picking our masters after all.<em>

_Pardon?_

_Something Neji said about family remember? He thought family meant servitude. I think everyone is a servant to something, and I think I am going to choose Konoha to be my master. Not the current leader of it, or a faction vying for its control, but the cohesive whole that is Konoha. That is what I am going to protect. That is something I will be willing to kill for._

_We have established they can't all be clan._

_I don't need them to be. It is the home I am protecting, not necessarily the people within, well at least not all of them._

_So, you are a servant with a modicum of free will, huh? Sounds like a good enough plan for me. Where you go, I will always be there to protect you. Because you are my clan._

_I appreciate that Mamoru-Kun. I guess we should move camp away from these corpses._

She returned to where Anko had been sitting next to the camp fire. "How was your first blood, Hikari?" Anko didn't want to look it, but her voice was laced with the tiniest bit of concern.

Hikari sat down. "About as lackluster as anything else has been on this mission. He didn't put up a fight so it was essentially an execution." Anko merely nodded her head.

Ebisu landed between the two of them. "I believe it would be best if the three of us continued on our journey. I do not like the idea of being alone in lightning country any longer than we must. We are not exactly welcome here." Anko agreed and the three of them were off yet again.

* * *

><p>The journey from Konoha had taken four days to complete, which should leave the two-tails jinchuriki to having one more day of bed rest if the doctor was to be believed. Hikari made her way to the hospital, and walked up to a young man in scrubs working the front desk. "One visitor for a Miss Yugito Nii."<p>

The man boredly held up a sign-in sheet. "Please write down your name, time of visit, as well as your relation to the patient." Hikari filled out the paperwork given to her, and decided to put down 'friend' for the relation part. It might not have technically been true yet, but it was a work in progress.

Hikari stood in front of the room that the guy had taken her to and plastered on as friendly a smile as she had practiced in the mirror. _Alright, got your game face on! Let's make a friend! _She opened the door to the door and turned to look at Yugito asleep in the bed. _Aww, she looks so peaceful when she is sleeping, not at all like the murderous madwoman we talked to before._

_Don't exacerbate the situation. Simply pull up a chair and wait for her to wake up._

Hikari obeyed Mamoru's orders. She had only been sitting there a few moments when Yugito's eyes shot open. "Hi there, I've been sent here as part of a diplomacy mission from the Hokage. In order to atone for the suffering I have caused you and your people, I will be your personal attendant for the month." _NAILED IT._

Yugito's eyes were full of venom. "You!" She acted like she wanted to lunge for her, but had apparently been restrained to her bed by some sort of chakra draining cuffs. "If I wasn't chained to this bed by the Raikage to heal I'd…" She paused for a second. "Diplomatic mission? Personal attendant? Why?"

"Diplomatic mission because assaulting a non-enemy ninja in their own territory sets the groundwork for shitty diplomatic relations for years. Personal attendant because it is a physical demonstration that I regret what it is that I have done and am putting myself in your care as an acknowledgment of respect." Yugito didn't seem to trust Hikari at all. "Look, I am sorry for what I did, but you should at least meet me halfway here… Please?"

"I hope you are ready to get started on a lot of chores, I haven't been able to do any missions for a whole week because of you." She paused for a moment. "I suppose I am also sorry for attacking you out of the blue. When you've been a jinchuriki for as long as I have you learn not to trust people you don't know… and even some of those you do." Her eyes softened.

"I think you and I are going to become pretty good friends over the course of this month." Hikari added with a smile as she poured Yugito some water. "Actually, now that I think about it, most of the friendships I have now were founded upon the idea of fighting each other." She handed Yugito the water.

Yugito smiled as she took it. "I guess you just have one of those faces."

Hikari laughed and gave her a genuine smile. "It's probably something like that."

* * *

><p>"You have a lot of cats." Hikari said as she entered Yugito's small apartment. To be fair, she only had three, but there was so little space and so much of it was occupied by cats or cat stuff that it felt very… catty? It was a good thing Hikari wasn't allergic to them. However, cats had never been a big fan of Hikari. Turns out they don't like snakes that much, which was fine by her. The feelings were reciprocated. Any space that was not taken up by cat paraphernalia had trash on it, Yugito seemed to subsist only on take out. This was no way to live.<p>

"Yea, they are my little babies." She picked up the small black one and held it to her nose. "So your first job is going to be replacing their litter box and then giving them all baths." _So this is what I've been reduced to… cat crap picker upper._

_Sucks to be you I guess._

_Yep. _Hikari let out a big sigh before going to work cleaning out the litter boxes for all 3 cats. She worked for a solid 30 minutes putting all the cat piss rocks and droppings into a bag before refilling the litterboxes with fresh, clean new kitty litter, that they could promptly ruin! Now came the difficult part, the washing. She was aware of the stereotype that cats hated water, but didn't actually know how deep-rooted that sentiment went until she had to deal with the little demons herself.

Yugito listened to Hikari trying to wash her cats from the outside the bathroom door. There was a lot of splashing, scratching, biting, and swearing the cats might have done a little bit, but that was mostly Hikari surprisingly enough. Yugito had never actually washed her cats before, she had always let them groom themselves and she would just brush through their coat every once in a while, but hearing Hikari suffer had a mild cathartic effect on her. She couldn't quite place it, but the knowledge that she was getting some payback made all of this sweet music to her ears. Hikari exited the bathroom soaked to the bone holding three dry clean kitties wrapped in a towel. Hikari suppressed her giggle. "You know that after you wash them you are supposed to brush them through right?" Hikari mumbled something unintelligibly. "Also they get their baths once every two weeks. Try not to get water on my couch!" Yugito a little bit too excitedly left Hikari to towel herself off and round up the cats again for their brush.

After she was done with that, she began to pick up all the garbage that had accumulated in Yugito's apartment over the years. Anything that looked like business papers she put in a stack, but all the wrappers and the leftover containers had to go. So… all those weeks essentially being on Konoha cleanup duty actually was helping her in her life as a ninja… she would tell no one of this.

She was surprised by how roomy everything was when the apartment wasn't filled floor to ceiling with garbage. The only thing that she really had left to do was wash dishes… there were no dishes. "Yugito? Where are all your dishes and silverware?"

Yugito left her room as she tied her hair into a ponytail. "Don't have any, I don't cook and all the places that sell me food give you complimentary chopsticks and plastic-wear." She paused when she got to the now clean living area of her apartment. "Where did all my stuff go?"

Hikari was genuinely confused. "You mean all of the old fast food containers, empty bottles of booze and soda, and all the other detritus that has accumulated over your home?" Yugito just nodded her head. "I put them in those." She pointed to the four very-full trash bags that were lined next to the door. "Why, did you want them? It is not exactly sanitary to leave that kind of stuff just laying around… especially with cats."

"But… my apartment wasn't just this was it? Didn't I have any decorations?" Hikari looked around and she was right, pretty much the only proof that this was Yugito's house had been the layers of trash. The only thing left in her apartment was her kitchen, which was devoid of any and all cooking supplies or dishes, a couch with a small rug in front of a couch facing the wall, and a table with one chair on either side. That and the kitty play house in the corner of the living room, but that was technically the cats'.

"I guess not. We could get you some tomorrow. Maybe some placemats for your table, a little table to put in front of your couch, some cooking supplies so I can make some food while I'm here, some actual cleaning supplies so that I can get this leftover's sticky residue off of the surface of your counter tops, and maybe a plant. You know, basic house stuff." Hikari said with a smile.

Yugito merely nodded her head. "A plant sounds nice."

So a month goes by, and Hikari has essentially been playing housewife for Yugito. She cooks, she cleans, she takes care of the kids…cats, and she even occasionally trained with her new friend. The two of them had a relationship that they both kind of just settled into, it was the first time either of them had gotten to be "girly" in a long time. They were reading stupid tabloids together, talking about cute boys they had seen around the village, giggling. Neither of them had ever really tried out giggling before, and it was a strange phenomenon to say the least. It was fun, but not something the two of them would do regularly of course.

As they were saying their goodbyes they gave each other a small hug, it was for show… obviously, it's not like they were actually friends of course, pfft please. Alright, so it was a ninja's duty to hide their emotions, and they were sad that they weren't going to be seeing each other for a long time, but they weren't going to let it show.

Anko sighed as the three of them headed back to Konoha. "Oh thank kami we are going back home. I was so bored, there was nothing to do there but drink and read. I can only deal with so much relaxing before I just need to get some adrenaline pumping." She pointed to Hikari. "Rookie, you and I are going to be training like crazy when we get home." Hikari nodded, she was also a little stir crazy. _I guess the domestic life just isn't for me._

_Are you really all that surprised?_

_Not particularly, no. I am going to enjoy getting back to my usual routine._

* * *

><p>They had not been through the gates of Konoha for 10 minutes before a kid with a bowl cut and a green jumpsuit sprinted in front of them. Bushy brows? "Lee? What are you doing here, is something wrong?"<p>

"No, I was just arriving to inform you that your birthday is in less than a month, and that I am planning on having a birthday party for us. It is my sincere hope that you will not run away this time." He gave her a big thumbs up.

"I didn't run away last time Lee, I was training." Hikari gave out an exasperated sigh. "When did you get that jumpsuit? And what happened to your hair?"

"Ahh, to see burning so brightly the flames of youth!" The voice didn't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular.

"Oh no." Anko almost pale. "Run!" Anko disappeared from her sight. Which was approximately the same moment when a guy that looked like an older version of the new Lee appeared in front of her. Confetti flew out of somewhere and a backdrop of the rising sun appeared behind him.

_Is this some sort of genjutsu? _She tried to dispel it, but it didn't seem to budge. _Nope its real… where did all this confetti come from. "_I am always so inspired by the youthfulness of today's fiery youth!"

Hikari was genuinely confused. "What?"

"That is an excellent way to put it Gai-Sensei!" Lee put his hands up and bowed before his… _did he say sensei?_

"So… this guy is your sensei. Man I'd hate to see who Neji got stuck with." Hikari began massaging her temples, all this youthfulness was a little much for her.

Lee turned to her. "Neji and Tenten are also under the amazing tutelage of Gai-Sensei!" he pumped his fist into the air. "The four of us are going to be the strongest team in all of Konoha!"

"That is very nice, Lee. But I have a report that I need to get to the Hokage… and I don't think Anko is going to be doing it any time soon. Ebisu is gone to… weird." She started walking towards the Hokage Tower.

"Wait, Hikari-San. I would like to spar with you, to see how much it is that I have improved!" There was a literal fire in his eyes. _Kami, I hope that just some kind of weird genjutsu._

"How about the two of us spar after the party we have next month. Consider it my birthday present or something, but I'm kind of busy right now." Hikari continued on her way.

"Then I must train twice as hard in preparation for our battle!" He ran off with Gai-Sensei saying something about youth that she didn't quite understand.

Hikari made it to the Hokage Tower without further incident. She walked to the front desk. "Hikari Hebi, here to report on mission success to the Hokage." She was led to the Hokage's office.

"Ah, hello Hikari, how did your mission go?" The Hokage seemed genuinely pleased to see her.

"Excellent on my end Hokage-Sama, I made amends with Yugito Nii, and I consider us friends." Hikari gave him an honest smile.

"I am pleased to hear it. I will have Ebisu fill me in on the details of the diplomatic portion later."

Hikari returned to her usual apartment to sleep on her nice, comfortable, familiar bed, and slept her comforting dreamless sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note:

Good news everyone! I am going to be done with all my finals and sheet in 3 days, which means I can focus on writing more... soon! Bad news everyone! I won't be writing for the next three days so that i do well on those last exams. I hope you guys enjoy yourselves, I really like writing this chapter. See you guys next time! :D

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 7

Anko had apparently decided that Hikari's month of playing housewife meant that she would now be spending a month as training slave. Which meant that she had essentially doubled the number of exercises that she expected Hikari to do. Double the speed, endurance, and strength training. Double the amount of effort she was expected to put into her jutsu. And double the amount of time spent in spear training. Which literally gave her enough time to go home, crash on her bed, and have Anko wake her up in the morning. And Anko did wake her up for her training. She'd broken into her fucking apartment to wake her up for training.

Hikari had already thought Anko was crazy before, but she had taken it to a whole new level of insanity. After two weeks on nonstop training Hiakri was about ready to collapse. If it had just been physical or just been jutsu she would have been fine, but both was particularly taxing. "Anko, how about tomorrow, we spend the day recharging our batteries? We can go to an onsen, I'll buy us some dango, I'll get us some of those make-out books you like so much."

"Minors aren't allowed to purchase those books." Anko said as they made their fourth lap around the village.

"Then I'll give you the money to buy them and I'll read them with you. As long as we can get a day off."

"I suppose one day of chilling in a hot tub, eating dango, and reading porn wouldn't kill us." Anko agreed to do a day of rest.

_Woah wait… porn? I do not approve._

_You're disapproval has been noted and duly ignored._

_I motion for it not to be ignored._

_That would require a 2/3 majority to overcome my veto._

_There are only two of us._

_Then the motion fails. Looks like I'm hanging out with Anko tomorrow!_

_THIS IS WHY DIPLOMACY IS THE WORST!_

_Yea, well sometimes you just have to deal with that._

* * *

><p>After the two of them had finished training for the day, Hikari trudged back to her home, and started to make her usual dinner meal. Which was when she felt a rather familiar chakra emanating from her window. "How does everyone know where I live?" Hikari sighed and opened up the window to her living room. "I know you're there, come on in."<p>

Hikari left her window to return to the meal she was making. The presence entered her room. "Hello, Hinata." Hikari began doling out another plate of her steamed rice with grilled chicken mixed with sautéed vegetables. "About to finish dinner, you want any?"

"H-Have you b-been avoiding me?" Hinata's violet tinged eyes were filled with sadness. "I k-know you were gone for a year and a half for training, but that was months ago."

Hikari looked up from the meal she was preparing, and placed a practiced smile onto her countenance. "It was requested by your family head that you and I cease being seen with one another. Apparently, it will be frowned upon for the daughter of the family head of the Hyuga clan to associate herself with the daughter of an S-class criminal. Dinner?" She held up the plates she had prepared for the two of them.

"When did you talk to my father?" She looked confused, the information that Hikari was the daughter of an S-class criminal seemed to put her off balance to say the least.

"Soon after I had returned from my training. I was planning on asking you to come shopping with me, but when I got to the Hyuga compound, they decided to give me an audience with the family head. I look too much like my father for my own good I suppose." Hikari placed the two bowls on the table and sat down, picking at her food noncommittally.

Hinata finally moved to sit down. "B-but I didn't want that."

Hikari looked up from her bowl. "Want it or not, my fate has been decided. I'm an outcast, and will no doubt remain an outcast. Even if I were to bring the village my father's head, they would still see that monster in me."

Hinata avoided eye contact. "I don't think you're a monster." She began to fold her hands together and fiddle with them. "M-monsters don't console people who are c-crying."

Hikari began to give her a small smile. "Yea, well you're one of the few who thinks so." Hikari returned her attention to her meal. "So, what now? Are you going to ignore your father's wishes?"

"After my s-sister was born, my father stopped caring about me. I was n-never g-good enough for him. He's forgotten I exist." Tears began to form in Hinata's violet tinged eyes.

Hikari stood and pulled Hinata into a reassuring hug. "Two outcasts. What a pair we make." Hikari released Hinata from her grasp. "Tomorrow, my sensei and I are going to be devoting the entire day to dango and spa treatment. You wanna come?"

"I-I wouldn't want to impose." Hinata didn't make eye contact, but that was how Hinata always acted.

"Preposterous, I insist. Meet me here at 8 in the morning, and I'll introduce you to my sensei… She is a little weird, but so are we, so we should all fit in." Hikari gave her a genuine smile when Hinata looked up. "Alright, now get out of here, Kohai. I have some sleeping I need to catch up on."

Hinata gave her a big smile. "Hai, Senpai!"

"And use the door next time." Hikari opened the door to the apartment. "You'd be surprised at how many people have come through my window."

Hinata left through the door and Hikari closed it behind her.

_That makes it three unexpected guests that came through the window._

_Yea, well I did technically drag the two others through that way, but details._

Hikari placed her dishes in the sink and then returned to her bed. To embrace a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>Hikari was awakened by a knock at her door. She looked at her clock. It was 7 in the morning. <em>Why is someone here so early? <em>Hikari had been planning on sleeping in for a little before getting ready for her spa day at 8. She sleepily approached the door and opened it. "Yea?" It was when she looked at Hinata's severely blushed countenance that she came to the realization. SHE WAS IN HER UNDERWEAR. Hikari slammed the door in Hinata's face before she ran into her room and pulled on her clothes for the day.

_Well, that was graceful. I'm surprised you didn't "meep"_

_It's like you only live to criticize me._

_How else would you improve?_

She returned to her door and opened it to see Hinata's still blushing face. "Why are you here so early?"

"I-I was going to offer to make us some b-breakfast" Hinata's held up her bag of groceries so that she could hide her blushing face.

"Fine, come on in. I still need to shower, so go ahead and get started." She hurried to her room and entered her shower. Allowing the warm water to wash over her. Removing some of the soreness in her muscles as well as the dirt and grime from her skin. If she could, she would have stayed in her shower forever, but that would make her gross and prune-y, and would also make her miss her spa day. That wasn't about to happen.

She begrudgingly exited her shower and put on fresh clothes. She didn't bother binding her hand and arms, it was going to be a non-combat type of day anyway. She still strapped her kunai holster to her leg. More out of habit than because she believed she would need it. It was her good luck charm. Familiar and she felt… naked without it on.

She exited her bedroom to see Hinata cooking breakfast in her kitchen. "Hinata, I appreciate that you feel obligated to give back because I invited you to a spa-day, but it isn't really necessary for you to cook for me."

Hinata looked up from the miso soup she was preparing and started her work on the Tamagoyaki. "I like cooking, and I don't feel obligated to do anything. I just thought it'd be nice." She gave her a smile and returned her attention to her cooking.

"I'll make the tea in that case." The two of them worked their way through the kitchen until everything was ready and set up before them on the table. They ate in relative silence for a while before Hikari turned her attention back to Hinata. "What do you think of Neji?"

_Well, that was rather bold, where exactly are you planning on going with this?_

_Shut up for a second and you'll find out._

Hinata almost choked on the tea she had been drinking and tried her best to dignifiedly return to her original composure. "He… He h-has one of the strongest Byakugan in the entire clan, and graduated at the top of his class in the academy."

Hinata started picking at her food. "That doesn't tell me what you think about him though. Those are only a couple of facts about his life."

Hinata didn't make eye contact with her. "He got the short end of the stick in life. His father was the twin brother of my father, but was born mere minutes behind him. That meant that he was going to be branded a member of one of the branch families. What made him really hate the main branch was when his father died in my father's place after I was kidnapped."

Hikari thought for a few moments. "That explains why he associates family with servitude…"

Hinata looked up. "Why did you ask?"

Hikari put a genuine smile as she slightly blushed. "I might have… given him a kiss." She tried to say as noncommittally as possible gesturing with her hands dismissively.

Hinata was blushing slightly as a small grin wormed its way across her face. "You like him." She said teasingly. _Since when did Hinata tease people? I don't remember her ever doing anything like that._

_You have corrupted her, way to go. You should be proud of yourself. _He intoned sarcastically.

_I'm not saying I'm entirely surprised, but still._

"You're one to talk, you are the one who is head over heels for blondie." Hinata's blush became an even more vivid shade of crimson. "AH-HA! I was just guessing but that proves it!"

"Senpai! That's mean!" Hinata was flustered and trying her best to cover her rapidly reddening blush growing across her face.

Hikari looked at the clock. "As much as I'd like to sit here and continue our conversation about our assorted hunky boys," Hinata's blush reached yet another deeper shade of crimson that Hikari hadn't even thought was humanly possible. "we should probably meet up with Anko, she isn't a fan of people being late."

"Hai, Senpai." Hinata rather hastily got up and placed her dishes in the sink and prepared herself to leave.

"You know, now that I know how easy it is to fluster you…" Hikari's eyes darkened in malevolent glee. "be prepared to be teased to no end about it! BWHAHAHA!" Hinata's eyes seemed to be full of genuine fear at Hikari's outburst. "Nah, I'm just playing. I'll keep your boy a secret if you keep mine." Hikari's eyes softened and she gave her a reassuring pat on the back. "Let's get going."

_That was just cruel. I think you almost made her pass out._

_Oh, relax. My little kohai knows she doesn't have anything to worry about._

* * *

><p>"Who is she?" Anko pointed to the dark blue haired quivering girl who was hiding behind Hikari.<p>

"She is a friend of mine from my time spent at the academy." She pointed to the girl behind her. "This is Hinata, she is pretty shy at first, but once you get to know her… she is still pretty shy. Hinata, this is Anko, she's my sensei, and the reason I'm getting a day off." Hinata leaned out from behind Hikari and muttered something quietly. It sounded like some sort of greeting, but Hikari couldn't really make it out. "Now that introductions are done, it is time for some rest and relaxation!"

"I brought the books." Anko said with a devilish smile as she handed Hikari the first book of the Icha Icha franchise. Hinata blushed as she realized what it was that was exchanging hands.

"Sweet." Anko took the book and placed it into her kunai pouch. "I'll read this while we are soaking in the hot springs." She pulled Hinata with her into the main lobby of the spa they would be spending the day in. "I think I've signed us up for a group massage, followed by a soak in the hot springs, and then we get our nails done… that is a thing right? I've never gotten my nails done professionally, usually I just trim them myself."

Anko looked dumbfounded. "That would explain a lot. I guess as your sensei it is my duty to teach you about how keeping yourself clean and appealing is supposed to work… Although you should probably know this by now." Anko massaged the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger for a second before continuing. "But before we get to that, I'd like that massage,"

The three of them spent the next four hours being massaged, soaked, and pampered in the lap of luxury. The Icha Icha books were surprisingly well-written, even if it was generally considered to be smut, of course Hikari learned things that she preferred to keep buried into her subconscious never again to see the light of day… but other than that she enjoyed them.

_I told you I didn't want you reading that stuff! Ahh! My poor brain, forced to think all those terrible things!_

_Calm down, Mamoru-Kun. It's just a book, no harm ever came from reading a book._

_Forbidden Jutsu Scrolls._

_THOSE DON'T COUNT, I SAID BOOK!_

_Pfft, you just mad cause you were wrong._

Anko decided it would be her treat, she had more money than she could to spend from the number of high ranking missions that she went on. "The only thing I ever spend money on is rent, food, and occasionally nail polish if the mood hits me." Anko looked at Hikari devilishly. "But this does mean that tomorrow you will be working extra hard as payment for my generosity."

Hikari's head immediately drooped. "Hai, Sensei."

"You'll be paying for the dango though." She began pushing both of the younger girls in the direction of her favorite dango supplier. "Come on girls, mama's got a sweet tooth that needs sating!"

After their time in the dango shop, the three kunoichi went their separate ways. Hinata needed to return to the Hyuga compound for something. Anko needed to get back to her apartment to feed her pet snake (for some reason she kept a regular snake as a pet, even though it'd be way cooler just to have a summons for all of her pet affection needs). Hikari decided she would spend the rest of her day practicing her fire jutsu, even if it was technically her day off she knew that even a little bit of extra practice could mean the difference between life and death in the field. She practiced until her throat burned, and then continued practicing some more before she noticed that the sun was setting. "Better start heading home." She said to… no one really, she was all alone and was well aware of that fact. _Oh man, Mamoru, am I going crazy?_

_What? Probably not, I'm sure normal people do that kind of thing all the time._

_HEY! Are you saying I'm not normal?_

_You're an 11 year old who talks to snakes and you possess a bloodline limit that only two other people alive have or can even get._

_Point taken._

* * *

><p>Hikari returned to her apartment complex and sat on her couch. Not thinking of anything in particular, just enjoying the relative silence and peace that came- *knock knock knock*- <em>Shit, and it was just getting good.<em>

_Language, naughty word._

"Uggh, come on in it's open." Hikari yelled begrudgingly from her position on her couch.

The door suddenly flew open, and standing in her doorway was a tall thin man with high cheekbones and a pale complexion. His eyes were yellow and had a slit down the center of them… like a snake. He had on purple eyeliner that reached down the bridge of his nose. He had dark, straight black hair that was draped down tohis shoulder blades. He was wearing a rather generic leaf-jonin uniform, the vest with a long dark blue shirt, pants, and sandals, he had a leaf headband over his forehead, which covered the majority of his eyebrows, and even wore the fingerless gloves.

Hikari immediately drew her spear and pointed it in his direction. She had never met this man, but could sense his murderous ability. "What business do you have with me?" She instinctively activated her Sharingan eye in order to detect any threats the strange man might send her way.

"Now, Now. Is that anyway to greet your father, Hikari-Chan?" He gave her a closed-eye smile, but everything seemed off about it. "And after I had come all this way to bring you a present and make you stronger." He licked his lips.

"I don't want anything from you, Tousan." She did not even attempt to conceal the venom in her words when she said Tousan. He was no father of hers. "Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to see how my little girl was coming along. I see you activated your Sharingan, I must say that I am quite proud of how far you've come in your abilities. Most say you would be rookie of the year if it wasn't for the fact that you graduated early." His smile hadn't ceased and it continued to unnerve her. "But I think you can become stronger, and I'd like to help my poor sweet daughter."

"I neither want, nor do I need any help you can offer me Orochimaru." He squinted his eyes at her and his smiled returned to his standard face. Which appeared to be something along the lines of a hungering smirk.

"Very well, but I would very much like to test your abilities for myself." He suddenly charged her from his position at the door. Hikari adjusted her spear to strike his leg, and when he dodged to avoid it she used his momentum to flip him over her and throw him out her window with a crash. She immediately chased after him. Orochimaru rose from his position on the ground with only minor cuts from his defenestration. He laughed. "Very good, Hikari-Chan." She planted her spear into the ground and readied herself into her modified Gentle Fist Technique. "My, my, the Gentle Fist. This is becoming more interesting by the second." He charged her again, and the two engaged in their respective Taijutsu styles. Hikari flowed like water around the preposterously fast Orochimaru, before she sent a pulse of chakra to her weights causing them to detach from her. Her own speed began to match if not surpass his as she attempted to get a solid hit on one of his tenketsu points. The two blocked and evaded and danced over each other in an attempt to achieve the upper hand in the fight. It was then that she saw her opening. She pushed herself into his guard, pushed both of his arms in to the sides and placed both hands on his heart, sending a pulse of chakra into the tenketsu point of his heart. She held her hand in place and activated her Shadow's fang strike, bringing it down and to the left. Doubtlessly doing massive damage to his liver, at least one lung, and a kidney. _I did it, no one survives a blow to the heart like that. He's finished. _She felt his warm blood being coughed up onto her face and arms. She looked up smiling. Only for her to see a smirk crawl its way across his face. He leaned over as if he were about to tell her a secret, before he bit her neck and then disappeared in a cloud of ash.

She put her hand up to the wound and felt two small indentations from where he had just bit her. Followed immediately by the feeling of fire being pushed into her veins. It felt like her entire circulatory system was on fire, and each beat of her damnable heart sent a new wave of pain crashing over her. She fell to the ground screaming in pure agony, more terrible a pain than she had ever imagined. She slowly made her way to her feet, as she forced as much chakra in her legs as she could in her weakened state, and jumped back into her apartment. Her screams of pain didn't cease as she collapsed herself onto her couch, and attempted to muffle her voice, to avoid more unwelcome attention. The pain was so great, that she welcomed the dark and silent world that unconsciousness brought her.

* * *

><p>Anko's neck had been hurting since last night, it was strange because it hadn't been giving her much trouble as of late, but sitting around a training field waiting for her apprentice wasn't helping her forget about it. <em>Where is that damn girl, she should have been here an hour ago. This is what happens when you give a student a day off, give them an inch and they'll take a mile.<em> Anko walked from the training field, complaining about her lazy apprentice, that can't get her ass out of bed to save her life, and that she should be plenty recharged by now and be considerate enough not to make Anko walk all the way to her apartment complex to… She looked at the small pile of glass in the middle of the road, and traced it's trajectory to the big ass hole in the side of Hikari's apartment complex. _Someone had one hell of a party yesterday it seems, haven't seen someone party so hard they jumped through the window in at least 2 years. _

Anko merely shrugged this off and made her way to her lazy apprentice's apartment. She didn't bother knocking and simply tried to open the door. It wasn't locked, strange. Hikari usually had an open door type of policy, but she always locked it before going to sleep.

Anko slowly opened a door, with a kunai drawn. "Hey, kiddo? You in there?" She looked around the apartment to see Hikari shivering on her couch, face down into her cushion. She hurried to her side to examine what had happened to her apprentice. Hikari was shaking, her breathing was labored, and she was covered in a layer of sweat. She put her hand to Hikari's forehead. She was burning up. Hikari's side fell to the right, exposing the two puncture wounds she had on her neck, being the source of a small trail of dried blood that went across her throat. Anko quickly looked behind the puncture wounds to see three tomoe in a circular pattern on the side of Hikari's neck. "Orochimaru!" She quickly moved her hand and massaged her own curse mark. She took her apprentice in her arms and ran to the hospital.

* * *

><p>"Get the Hokage and Kakashi Hatake!" She commanded as she burst through the doors of the hospital. The employees merely stared at her dumbfounded as she ran to the desk. "NOW!" She turned her attention to the woman behind the front desk. "This girl is the victim of a curse mark, I will need a private room, as well as some privacy." The woman had dark brown hair and wore the standard nurse uniform for the Konoha ninja medic corps.<p>

"Hai, right this way." She pointed to two of her fellow nurses. "You heard the lady, bring the Hokage here immediately, and find out if Kakashi is on mission or not." She led Anko to a back room that they would have all to themselves. The woman deftly set up an IV and placed a cool, wet towel on Hikari's burning forehead. "That's all I can really do until we find out the exact nature of what it is that's happened to her." The woman began examining Hikari's heart rate and breathing. "Her heartbeat is fast and irregular, but it shouldn't be life threating, and her breathing is shallow and labored, but nothing seems to be constricting her airways. It looks kind of like she's in the middle of adrenaline fueled state of absolute exhaustion. We need to find a way to calm her down, but I don't want to give her a depressant because I don't know how it will interact with what she has taken to be put her in this state."

"She didn't take anything, Orochimaru placed a curse mark on her, and if he hasn't improved his damn process there is a 90% chance this girl is going to die!" Anko looked at her furiously. "So you are going to give her everything you can to improve her chances!"

The Hokage burst through the doors and went to Hikari's side. He checked her vitals and observed the curse mark located on the back left side of her neck. "As disheartening as it is, I believe the only thing we can do is wait for Kakashi to return from his mission in Suna. I do not know of anyone skilled enough in fuinjutsu besides him and the toad sage who would be able to seal it away. I am afraid we are forced to wait and observe her progress. I will have ANBU stationed outside of her room at all times." He appeared to be pained by the suffering he was witnessing in Hikari. "He should be back in about four days, until then…"

"I'll stay with her until she wakes up." Anko pulled up a chair and sat down next to her apprentice. "It's my fault. If I had been with her, I wouldn't have let this happen. He has his filthy claws in her because I wasn't aware enough to protect her… my own apprentice." She put her hands in her head.

Sarutobi slowly extended out his hand and patted the young woman on the shoulder. "You cannot blame yourself. Do not hold yourself responsible for the actions of a criminal." He turned to exit the hospital room. "If I had been a better Sensei, perhaps none of this suffering would have ever occurred."

He left the master and student to their own devices, and prayed to Kami that Kakashi would hurry back.

* * *

><p>ANBU Cat and ANBU Lizard stood next to the doors of the entrance to the hospital room. They had been given no information save the fact that there were only three people that were allowed entry. They had been stationed there for 10 hours, unmoving, unflinching, and utterly silent. It was their duty, and ANBU Cat never failed in her duty. There had been no sounds from inside except for the occasional pained moan, and as far as she knew, Anko had only left the room once, even then only being gone for a few minutes.<p>

ANBU Cat felt a dramatic surge in chakra as well as Killing Intent before she saw Anko being thrown through the door, taking the hinges with her as she collided with the wall in front of her. Cat didn't even see the girl before she had already incapacitated Lizard and thrown him down the entire length of the hall. Cat immediately drew her short sword before the girl broke her wrist with one hand and gripped her skull with the other. Sending a crack across the hardened ceramic with the force of her grip.

"Where is he?" The girl had strange black markings across the left side of her body, they looked like she had tried to paint camo, but only got half way done before deciding to go on a murderous rampage. "Where!?" The girl released Cat's skull and kicked her in the chest. She heard her ribs cracking under the pressure of the kick before she felt it as she was sent tumbling down the hall opposite the direction Lizard had gone. She felt her body crash into some poor guy and the two of them toppled over each other. Her lungs were on fire and it hurt to breath, but there wasn't any permanent damage done to her.

Cat looked up to see the girl pick up Anko with a single hand by her neck. "Where did Orochimaru go after he did this to me?" The girl slammed Anko into the wall leaving a small impact crater. "WHO LET HIM TURN ME INTO A MONSTER?!" Anko was struggling for breath, but slowly lifted one of her hands to the girl's cheek. Affectionately stroking it as the girl held her in a death grip. The girl released her and fell to her knees in tears as the strange black markings over her body slowly receded. Anko held the crying girl in her arms whispering things that Cat couldn't quite make hear before a medic squad took her away and began tending to her injuries.

* * *

><p><em>He's turned me into him. My biggest fear was finding out that I was indeed a monster. Validating everyone who hates and despises what it is that I am, and he's turned me into the one thing I hoped I'd never become.<em>

_You aren't a monster, Imouto. _

_Of course I am Mamoru! You saw what I did! I nearly killed three jonin-level nin and didn't even bat an eye. I could have… would have killed everyone there if Anko hadn't stopped me. _Hikari looked down at the sheets in her hospital room. _I'm a danger to everyone I care about._

_You were just angry and confused. One second you were in a battle for your life and the next you were restrained in a hospital bed. Of course you are going to be confused. _

Anko walked into her hospital room holding Hikari's chakra weights. "I found these outside of your apartment earlier." She placed them in her lap. "Thought maybe you'd like them back." Hikari immediately latched the weights onto her arms and legs, the weight was familiar and oddly comforting. Helped her forget that merely hours before she had nearly killed three people.

Hikari avoided eye contact. "I'm sorry, Sensei."

"What do you have to be sorry about? It just looks like I'm going to be the one buying dango today." She cracked her neck a little and Hikari couldn't help but crack a small smile at her Sensei's flippancy.

"I should have killed him."

"Well, you can hardly expect to go up against an S-class nin-"

"Not I wanted to kill him but couldn't, I SHOULD have killed him." Hikari interrupted. "A direct hit to the tenketsu point of the heart, followed immediately by my Shadow's Fang Strike across his chest should have ruined at least four different vital points. Heart, Liver, Kidney, Lung." She pointed to the assorted body parts as she named them. "I SHOULD have killed him."

Anko looked at her confused. "But you didn't?"

"He smirked… and that was right before he bit me and disappeared in a cloud of ash." Hikari's arm instinctively massaged her curse mark when she spoke of that man.

"Well, wherever he is you have definitely put him through a hell of a lot of pain. He'd need an amazing medical ninja in order to survive that kind of ordeal." Anko sat at the foot of the bed. "I'm gonna go pick us up some dango, the Hokage should be here in a minute." Hikari merely nodded her head and Anko left her alone with her thoughts once again.

_You know, while you were out… Anko barely left your side for a minute, and the Hokage was very worried about your well-being. They wouldn't care so deeply about you if they thought you were a monster._

_They would if I was a monster that could be used as a weapon. That is what ninjas are after all. So I am a monster even the monsters fear. _

_Hikari! _His tone was very authoritative, he had never spoken to her like that. _You aren't a monster. You aren't a tool. You aren't a weapon. You are a person. A person people care very deeply for, a person who they don't want to see suffering. Orochimaru might have given you a power we don't exactly understand, but that doesn't mean we are obliged to use it._

_Thank you Mamoru-Kun._

_No problem, little hatchling._

_You haven't called me little hatchling since I was a child._

_You're not even 13 yet, I can call you hatchling up until then._

_Fine._

The Hokage walked into her room and sat at the foot of her bed. "You know, ANBU Lizard informed me that he had been beaten up by a little girl. Quite a blow to his ego really." Hikari looked down sadly. "Don't look so beat up about it." He leaned in close, like he was telling her a secret that was just between the two of them. "Between you and me, he was getting a little too big for his britches, nice of you to take him down a couple of pegs." Hikari couldn't help but let out a small giggle as the Hokage slowly nodded his head and put a finger next to his lips to demonstrate that she would have to keep that very hush, hush.

"I'll be sure to keep it our little secret, Hokage-Sama."

"Good! I knew I could trust you with that very sensitive information, Hikari-Chan." He leaned back a little in his seated position. "You seem to be in near perfect health. Has anything been bothering you?"

"My neck gets a little pinch in it every once in a while, but other than that I've been fine. What time is it Hokage-Sama?"

"It is about 7 in the afternoon, why? Do you have a handsome young man you expect to be visiting you tonight?" The Hokage raised an eyebrow.

Hikari blushed lightly at the Hokage asking about her dating life. "N-no!" She said a little too defensively. "I was just wondering is all…" He laughed lightly.

"I always enjoy our little chats, Hikari-Chan." He got up and stretched his back until he heard a little crack followed by a contented sigh. "Sadly, I must return to my mountain of paperwork. Kakashi Hatake will be arriving in Konoha in four days. He will work on sealing that curse mark that has been placed on you, and then I would like to speak with all three of you." He began walking to the door. "Oh, I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of informing a few of your friends that you were in the hospital. Would you like to see them?" He opened the door and before she had even had time to respond she saw a green blur shoot through the door and appear next to her bedside.

Lee was in tears. "OH HIKARI I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU, BUT I KNEW THAT YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH WOULD SEE YOU THROUGH THIS UNYOUTHFUL TIME!" He pulled her into a hug and began shaking her back and forth. His tears were getting in her hair… gross.

"Lee. Lee! LEE!" He stopped shaking her. "I'm fine now please release me before I punch you." She pried herself from Lee's grasp and turned her attention to the door to see Hinata, Neji, and Gai-Sensei?

"Excellent point, Lee!" He jumped into the room and a sunset appeared behind him while confetti fell from… nowhere. "Our youthful friend over hear has been through quite an ordeal. We should allow her some time for adequate rest and relaxation." He gave her a thumbs up and sunlight glinted off his teeth… wait a second the sun was down. HOW DOES HE DO THAT!

Lee appeared next to him bowing and crying. "You are so wise and cool, Gai-Sensei!"

Neji grabbed them both by the neck of their body suits. "That is enough of that." He started to drag the two of them towards the door. "How about you to do laps around the city in order to prove your devotion to Hikari's well-being?"

"What a youthful idea Neji, come on Lee! We have a city to run around." The two of them disappeared in a green blur.

Hikari looked dumbfounded. "I am honestly surprised that that worked… also that they didn't take you with them." Hinata quietly walked to Hikari's right side and sat down.

"You learn a few things about the two of them. They'll do pretty much anything if you tell them it proves something." Hikari couldn't help but laugh a little at Neji's remark.

"How are you feeling?" Neji asked as he leaned on the doorframe.

"A lot better after seeing you guys." He blushed a little despite himself.

"Well you look terrible." He had to dodge a cup full of water she threw at him that exploded onto the wall. He merely smirked back at her.

"Ass." She turned her attention over to the silent Hinata. "How's my little Kohai?" She said with a smile.

Hinata looked up and smiled. "A lot better now that I know that you're ok." She leaned over and whispered so that only Hikari could hear. "Neji-Kun is trying to act all cool, but he was pacing like crazy when he didn't know about your condition."

"Is that so, Hinata-Chan?" She said loud enough for Neji to hear.

Hinata nodded before she stood up to leave. "Bye, see you later Senpai!" She smiled as she left the two of them alone in the room.

"So, were you worried about me, Neji-Kun?" She batted her eyelashes. "A little birdy said you were pacing. I didn't know you paced." She smiled at him.

"Tch." He tried to be dismissive, but couldn't hide the slight blush that appeared.

She turned in her bed so that her feet were swinging of the side, and her fingers curved over the side of the mattress. "Was tall, pale, and gloomy worried about little old me?"

"You know, we haven't spoken since you kissed me and ran into your room." He removed himself from the wall and began slowly walking forward.

_HA! I knew this was gonna come around and bite you._

Hikari began to nervously massage her mark. "I-uh guess I did do that, didn't I?" He simply nods his head as he approaches her. "I suppose I should-uh say sorry, or something like that. I did kinda… spring that on you." His face was inches away from her own. He took her head in both of his hands and slowly pressed their lips together in a tender embrace. Hikari was shocked, but she slowly melted into the heat of their lips pressing against each other. She could feel it in her chest as her heart pumped the warmth across her entire body. She instinctually moaned into his mouth, which encouraged him to redouble their embrace.

"I brought the dang-oh." Anko said as she turned into the room. Realizing that her apprentice was lip-locked with… was it another girl? The hair was long and it looked better than Hikari's own. She wasn't going to judge, but she hadn't really expected her apprentice would roll that way. "I didn't realize you had visitors."

Hikari violently pulled herself out of the embrace, causing her to flip over the bed backwards. "SENSEI!" She yelped from her invisible position at the opposite side of the bed. The person she had been kissing turned to face the unexpected visitor. He was an almost unhealthy shade of crimson as he realized they been seen.

_That was so graceful Hikari-Chan. Ten out of ten, no doubt. You even stuck the landing!_

_SHUT UP!_

"I didn't realize you were going to be having a gentleman caller, I would have waited outside for you two to finish… whatever it was you were planning on doing in here." She gave the two of them the largest shit eating grin Hikari had ever seen.

Neji disappeared and was replaced with a bedpan. "SENSEI!" Hikari's head popped out from the other side of the bed. She was also very red. "It wasn't like that, we were just-"

"Oh I know what you were just, kiddo." Anko continued to have that grin plastered on her face. "You aren't the first who's been caught locking lips in front of their sensei, and you won't be the last." She paused for a couple seconds. "So, the Hyuga boy, huh? That explains the hair then."

_Mamoru, help me!_

_No way Hikari-Chan, you got yourself into this mess with all your hormones and biological urges, you get yourself out of it._

_You are the worst!_

_You know you love me. _

"Dango?" Anko said as she held out the box of sweets. "And then you can tell me all about that dream boy of yours."


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note:

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to put up another chapter you guys. Finals+ Holidays+ Family time= little time to write + tears. I wanted to get this thing out before Christmas, but I guess it is kinda like my present to all of you guys. I want to get another two chapters out before the year ends, so that way my story is up in the double digits (WOOP WOOP), but I don't know how realistic that is. Anyway, I love you guys, thanks for the reviews and favorites and follows, I really appreciate them. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Ch 8

_OH GOD! I'M SO BORED MAMORU!_

_Yea, being stuck in the hospital for four days will do that._

_All I've done for four days straight has been pretty much just sit around._

_That's not entirely true, Anko brought you that book on day two, and they did let you do some training with Anko yesterday._

_Yea, under the surveillance of like 4 ANBU, and those were only the ones I saw, who knows how many there actually were in the event I got out of control._

_They were just trying to keep everyone safe. _

_Yea, safe from the terrifying snake monster girl who can crush ANBU into a bloody paste when she loses control._

_Well, you can crush them into paste if you lose control, so they are trying to be safe from you, but that doesn't make you a monster._

_THEN WHAT DOES IT MAKE ME MAMORU? BECAUSE I SURE AS SHIT AM NOT A REGULAR PERSON!_

She didn't even notice the masked man sitting to her right on the windowsill. Reading the same book he had been reading when they had gone on that mission to the Land of Lightning. "Do you actually read that book, or is it just an act. You haven't seemed to make any progress in the series since the last time I saw you."

"I am reading through all of them again, I quite enjoy the stylistic literature that the author chooses to employ." He said as he turned the page.

"I enjoyed the first book, but the second one seems a bit dry at the start, does the series get better from there?" She gave him a sly smile.

"Oh, Paradise is merely the tip of the iceberg that is the depth of the Icha Icha series. Wait… how old are you?" The only visible part of his face was wrinkled in confusion.

"Almost 12 actually, but I've been reading books since before I could walk." She shrugged. "Always have been a bit mature for my age, but then again that may be because of the talking snake father-figure that I can instantaneously converse with mentally."

_Well, when you put it like that it sounds weird._

He stared at her incredulously for a few moments before his eyes resumed the bored, nonchalance she was used to seeing from him. "That's not actually the craziest thing I've ever heard. On a completely unrelated note, we need to work on sealing that curse mark." He remained at his position in the window and gestured for her to stand. "We will be going to ANBU headquarters, which is where I've gotten everything set up."

As she was putting on her shoes she asked him the question that had been bugging her since she had heard about the sealing. "How exactly is it that you are going to go about removing this thing?" She pointed to the three tomoe on her neck.

"I am not removing it, it is more along the lines of sealing it away. I'm going to be doing that by using Fuinjutsu to seal away the chakra that you receive by using that seal of yours." He jumped out the second story window and looked up to see if she would follow.

It wasn't exactly the craziest thing she'd ever done, she'd jumped through her second floor window on several occasions, but she assumed that she was supposed to check out of the hospital… probably… oh well. She exited the building from her window and landed deftly beside the masked one-eyed ninja. "This thing gives me chakra? I don't think I quite understand how this is a curse. Aren't curses supposed to debilitate you… or make you super unlucky? Giving me an extra reserve of chakra is like the opposite of a curse."

"I'll admit it is rather counterintuitive, what it does is feed on your current chakra reserves and essentially stores it away for later. That part isn't necessarily bad, it's the fact that if it runs out of chakra to feed off of, you die. Also, it is believed that while you have that curse mark, you will be able to be influenced by Orochimaru, something like urges that aren't your own." He paused for a second before continuing on their walk. "Your sensei has a nearly identical mark on her neck."

"Kakashi-Sensei, may I make a request?" He simply nodded as he looked back to his book. "I would like to learn fuinjutsu." She looked at the masked man expectantly before continuing. "Pretty please?"

"It would allow you to have more control over the curse mark seal, and it could help you out in combat situations if you get good at it." He contemplated for what felt like a lifetime. "If your sensei approves of it, I don't see why not."

He led her to a circular building with a domed roof, the inside of the large single room building was filled with an ominous red light. "They could have chosen a color palette that wasn't so…"

"Creepy?" Kakashi said rather helpfully.

"I was going to say foreboding but creepy also totally works too." They two of them made their way to the center of the building where there was already a sizable sealing array prepared for her. It was nearly 9 feet in diameter and contained 10 lines of some sort of arcane seals that Hikari had never even seen before that started at the small concentric circle at the center and ended with the larger one. On the larger circle was a ring of kunai with their points facing towards the center following the unknown characters. "Oh man, if I didn't want to learn sealing before I really do now."

She quickly activated her Sharingan and burned the sealing array into her memory, ever seal, every line, the exact curvature and diameter of the circle, everything safely kept in her memory banks. "I don't know what any of this does, but I really want to."

Kakashi let out a small chuckle before motioning her to take a seat at the center of the smaller circle. "This is only going to take a minute or so, but you might pass out for a little bit."

"If I don't do I get a candy?" She said only half-jokingly. If she was going to soldier through something that might make her pass out, she expected some sort of compensation.

"What? Candy?" Kakashi asked rather incredulously. "I swear you are your sensei both have a rather voracious sweet tooth and a penchant for destruction. That can't possibly be a coincidence." Hikari merely shrugged before giving him her best puppy-dog eyes she could muster. "Ah… ANBU." An ANBU member appeared next to him. "Would you mind going on a Dango run? It is imperative for the success of this mission."

The ANBU operative seemed to pause for only a moment before nodding his head and disappearing in a swirl of leaves. "Back to the important parts!" Kakashi said as he positioned himself behind Hikari. He placed appeared to be the wooden center of a scroll in front of her mouth. "You might want to bite down on that… this is going to hurt… a lot."

She had never dealt with pain that had been so drastically understated.

* * *

><p>Sarutobi sat next to his mountainous pile of paperwork. He was actually glad that he found himself so busy with work. Anytime he had ever ran out of paperwork it was almost always a bad omen. That being said having to do all of this was absolutely infuriatingly monotonous. <em>Anko has grown quite a lot in these few months that Hikari has been her charge. So has Hikari. Going toe-to-toe with a Sanin and landing a single glancing blow would be almost unheard of for a single genin, but then again it is always possible he wanted her to strike him. That her whole battle had been some kind of test for her, and that his little curse mark was a "gift" he was bestowing to his new pet project. <em>Sarutobi shivered at the thought of it. _To do something like that to your own daughter, to intentionally put her through all of this suffering and hatred. What did Orochimaru stand to gain? _Sarutobi didn't have any answer to that question. There were so many things regarding his old student that he didn't have an answer to.

Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to dissolve the stress headache that had been running rampant over his mind for the last couple of days. _He was rather upset about what he was going to have to do next, but the girl needed guidance as well as someone to watch over her, and Anko simply wasn't the person who would be able to do that. Hikari was going to have to learn to be strong or she would die, it was as simple as that. Danzo had already requested that she be placed into the ANBU forces both for her protection and that of the citizens of Konoha. I can't deny him forever, but I think her new sensei will be able to protect her from him. _Regardless of how little he liked the situation in question, it would still have to be done. Once He had the three of them in here, he could make their announcement.

If he was honest with himself he was surprised they hadn't rushed into his door already, they were a rather rambunctious bunch, but he had always found that trait endearing. He couldn't help but love the little knuckleheaded ninjas.

As if on cue, the doors burst open and Anko threw four kunai to hang the banner that denoted her arrival. "Konoha's bustiest and bestest Kunoichi…" Sarutobi could help but release a small chuckle. "I can't help but notice that you made a few changes to it since last time, the red lettering on the white field is much better." He heard a ripping noise as the banner was torn in two, to reveal a noticeably tired but triumphant Hikari behind the banner with Kakashi on her right side who had his head enamored with his book.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT! I JUST FINISHED MAKING THAT BANNER! THIS WAS GOING TO BE ITS DEBUT AND YOU RUINED IT!" Anko yelled with only a small amount of actual anger, the rest was mostly an act.

"What kind of a ninja uses a banner to announce her presence?" Anko was about to retort when she realized that Hikari had made a pretty good point… but that didn't mean she was going to admit it. "Hey, Hokage-Sama, did Anko tell you I beat her in a spar a few weeks ago?" She turned her attention to the old man with a glimmer of victory in her eyes.

"SHE TOTALLY CHEATED!" Anko continued with increasing fluster.

"I didn't cheat, I leveraged the battlefield to my favor using undermining tactics and attacking and exploiting a known weakness." Hikari folded her arms and nodded her head. "Basic ninja tactic, if you know you can't win straight on, go around."

"SHE POISONED MY DANGO!" Anko continued incredulously.

"WE BOTH KNOW POISONS DON'T WORK ON US!" Hikari shouted while gesturing between the two of them. She paused for a moment before the Hokage motioned for her to continue. "I used a paralyzing agent derived from non-snaked based components, so that way she wouldn't be immune. AND I gave her the cure… eventually… once I found out how to make it."

"I COULDN'T MOVE FOR 12 HOURS!"

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW YOU'D EAT 4 BOXES OF TAINTED DANGO!? It was supposed to be a mild paralytic that would make you slower and less responsive, not render you immobile."

The old man leaned back in his chair and erupted into raucous laughter. He wiped a tear from his eye before attempting to regain his composure, he proceeded to fail at this and began laughing once more. "As much as I've enjoyed this exchange we must move on to the more serious matters at hand. Kakashi, how did the sealing work?"

Kakashi didn't even look up from his book. "The Evil Sealing Method went off without a hitch Hokage-Sama, I might need to make a few minor tweaks to a small portion of the seal array to help it mesh more efficiently, but I don't foresee it actually being a problem."

The Hokage was relieved, even if he chose not to show it. "For the bad news. I am sorry Hikari but Anko can no longer be your sensei."

"WHAT!?" The two of them said at the exact same time.

"Anko, I am sure that you are well aware that Konoha will be hosting the Chunin exam in a little more than a year, and I am going to need your assistance in getting everything ready for the foreign ambassadors as well as prepping the training fields we will be using. Since I expect Hikari to participate in these Chunin exams, she cannot be privy to any information that would give her a competitive edge." Anko looked like she was about to interrupt him before he continued. "Also, she needs a sensei who is skilled enough in fuinjutsu that should unforeseen complications arrive with her seal, that she has someone around who can repair it."

"I don't like where this is going." Kakashi said rather impassively from behind his book.

"She also needs training with her Sharingan techniques that only Kakashi can teach her." He motioned for Hikari to come forward which she rather begrudgingly obliged. "Would you mind activating your Sharingan for me, dear?"

Hikari activated her Kekkei Genkai to reveal her three tomoe, two in her right and one in her left. He brought his attention to his desk and brought up four family scroll of the Uchiha clan. "These," he said motioning to the scrolls he had placed in front of him. "are the jutsu given to Uchiha clan members when they activate their Sharingan as advanced as you have. I have never opened them, so I do not know what they contain, but I asked Sasuke if I was allowed to give them to you, given his position as clan head, and he told me that he was happy the family jutsu were being put to good use."

"That sounds far too wordy for something that Sasuke-kun would say." Hikari said as she eyed the scrolls warily.

"Well, it was more along the line of an affirmative grunt followed by 'whatever,' but that's about all we can expect from him, he isn't exactly talkative."

Hikari took the four scrolls and held them protectively to her body, these scrolls belonged to her blood-clan, even if most of them were dead. These scrolls were precious to them, so they would be precious to her. "Thank you, Hokage-Sama." She said with an inclined bow in his direction.

Anko sighed. "I am going to miss having an annoying brat following at my heels."

"Geez, love you too, Anko. You don't have to get all mushy." Hikari said with a smirk.

"MUSHY!? I'LL SHOW YOU MUSHY WHEN I FINISH POUNDING YOUR HEAD INTO PULP!" The two of them sprinted out the office Hikari laughing while Anko shouted obscenities.

"May I chime in Hokage-Sama?" Kakashi placed the book back in his pouch before standing at attention. The Hokage's smile reached his eyes as he simply inclined his head signaling Kakashi that he could continue. "I don't want to have a student. I don't want to be responsible for her."

"I was quite positive that you weren't going to want an apprentice, but you are going to watch over her, and select a genin team at the end of the next academy semester in seven months. You will do this because she needs you, and you are the only one who can help her." Kakashi looked at the Hokage questioningly. "You know her parentage, even if it has never technically publicly confirmed. She needs to be protected while she learns to protect herself."

The Hokage gave a very pregnant pause before he continued. "I suspect that if Tsunade or Jiraiya never returns to Konoha, that you will become the Hokage, but you can't do that if you have no experience teaching."

"I don't want to do that at all…" Kakashi palmed his forehead and began trying to rub the information out of his skull.

"I know, it is for that very reason that you would make a great Hokage. I know you will do what is best for Konoha and for the Will of Fire." He returned his attention to the pile of paperwork to his left and let out a small sigh. "I trust in your judgment, Kakashi. Now you better hurry and catch up to your apprentice before Anko kills her." He added with a light chuckle.

He looked like he was going to say something before he stopped himself. "Hai, Hokage-Sama."

* * *

><p><em>Anko won't kill me if I'm next to children.<em>

_Won't she?_

_I don't actually know to be honest._

_Well, she might not kill you with so many witnesses around, so you have that going for you._

Hikari paused for a moment to catch her breath. Anko's chase had led her to the Academy building. She was glad that she had had the opportunity to stow her clan scrolls into her storage seal that she had been given. Hikari made her way to the doorway of Sasuke's class purely on instinct.. It was at that very moment that she tasted something very…. Familiar. Demonic Chakra. _There wasn't any of this here the last few times that I'd been here. _She drew a kunai before she traced to the source of the chakra.

_From our personal experience this is either a rampaging monster… or a chick._

_So not much difference then?_

_That joke is in poor taste._

_Oh shut up, you know it was a little funny._

Hikari opened the door from which the demonic chakra was the most palpable. Iruka-Sensei was in the middle of some sort of history lesson in rather boring monotone. "Oh, hello Hikari. I am sorry, but break isn't for another half hour."

"I apologize Iruka-Sensei, I am supposed to be checking up on some of the teachers… Kinda like a performance review I suppose." She lied, hopefully not too obviously. He didn't say anything, so she assumed that he had bought it. She gave him a smile before moving to the back of the room behind a blond haired boy. He seemed to be the source of the demonic chakra, but he was also… sleeping. He was drooling and his head was facing right with a small pool of saliva. HE WAS EVEN SNORING. _How does Iruka not notice this?_

Hikari palmed one of her kunai and threw it. It landed less than an inch in front of his nose with a thud. He woke up with a start and yelled before he fell from his chair. "Hikari please do not throw kunai at the students." He didn't stop the monotone of his voice.

"Even if they are asleep?" Hikari said with a very Uchiha like smirk.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!?" The blond yelled as he got back up from his position on the floor.

"A ninja should be prepared for any eventuality." She said from her seated position in front of him. "Sleeping in the middle of class will hardly help you to become prepared. Nor will skipping classes or avoiding schoolwork."

_You sure do have a way with people Hikari._

_I try._

"You think you're so smart." He said with a sneer.

"Yes." Hikari didn't contribute anything else to that part of the conversation. She was fairly smart, she had been first in class when they had ranked her intelligence scores.

"I bet I could take you! I am going to be the Hokage someday! BELIEVE IT!" He held his fist up in the air in excitement.

Hikari looked him up and down. He looked… clumsy. He had three whiskers on each side of his face and an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as around the waist. A white swirl with a tassel on the left side, he had a large white collar, orange pants and a shuriken holster attached to his right knee. He also wore goggles over his forehead. He didn't look like much of a ninja. "Why would a ninja wear all bright orange? We are supposed to be the epitome of stealth."

"I like orange, that's why!" Hikari could only blink at this. She literally could not come up with a response. She was absolutely dumbfounded by the boy. _So, this is Hinata's little heartthrob, he might not be the brightest, but he does have heart._

_I guess, he is the only blond boy in Hinata's class… he seems like the antithesis of Hinata if I'm honest._

Hikari started laughing lightly. "Tell you what, you got a good dream, hatchling. I will help you to become the Hokage, and when you accomplish your dreams, you give me some of the more interesting missions." She held out her hand. "Do we have deal?"

He looked oddly reserved for a moment before he burst out. "I won't need help to become Hokage. BELIEVE IT!"

Hikari kept the smile on her face and her hand outstretched. "Maybe not, but you will need allies, and I make a pretty good friend if I say so myself." Hikari activated her Sharingan and looked into the boys eyes. She felt herself being pulled into his blue eyes. The longer she looked at his eyes the more drawn she felt. The world became a swimming sea of blue, encompassing her entire field of vision, until she saw violent flashes of red. As the red began to overpower the blue, the world went black.

* * *

><p>Hikari grasped for breath. She was on her hands and knees in some kind of… sewer? She slowly stood up and looked around. She was in fact in some sort of sewer, there was piping to her right and left that led down the three paths she found herself at the center of. <em>Alright, I am in a dark sewer and I have no idea how I got here.<em>

Silence.

_Mamoru?_

Silence.

"Well fan-freaking-tastic!" She yelled to no one in particular. "I am stuck in the middle of a sewer, with no way to communicate with the outside world." She could feel demonic chakra pulse from the path in front of her. "That can't possibly be good." She rather grudgingly trudged her way to the source of the demonic chakra. She came upon a large entry room that had a massive barred gate at the opposite end. A single strip of paper keeping the two gate sides together.

"**Who dares enter my chamber?" **Hikari saw two red eyes appeared from what she now understood to be a cage. **"Those detestable eyes. An Uchiha. I was under the impression that you had all finally been killed off."**

"That's hardly a polite way to greet a guest. I must say you don't live in the lap of luxury. Any particular reason that you are having a leak?" She gave him a small smirk.

He chuckled darkly. **"You have no idea what you are dealing with do you, little girl?" **

Hikari tilted her head as she feigned ignorance. "Well, if I had to guess you would be the nine-tailed fox spirit… but didn't the Fourth Hokage kill you?"

A clawed paw reached from behind the bar and slammed the ground mere inches away from Hikari. **"NO PATHETIC HUMAN CAN KILL ME!"**

"But he can cage you." She paused for a moment. "Or at least so it would seem." He let out a low, angry growl. "I take it Naruto isn't aware of your existence then?"

"**I am not giving that little whelp any of my chakra." **He said with another angry growl.

"I must say that this has been quite eye opening for me, I think I am going to take a much more vested interest in Naruto's future. He doesn't seem like a bad kid you know.

"**I care not for the bratty child."**

"Are you always so angry? Everything you say is dripping with hatred."

He chuckled darkly. **"I can taste the hatred that you are harboring in your heart. I must say I haven't met someone who has had a dark a heart as yours in a long time." **Hikari's eyes narrowed. **"You hate the village for what they did to you. You hate your father for what he put you through. You hate your clan for abandoning you." **He paused for a moment before his eyes focused on her again. **"It's absolutely delectable. I will escape from this cage and I will consume you."**

Hikari's expression darkened. "You know, I am almost unnaturally good at compartmentalization." She noncommittally picked at her fingernails. Before she seemingly reappeared in front of the Nine-tails cage. "I can be whoever I want. Friendly, giggling girl. Angry, vengeful murder. Impassive, stony executioner." She began to pace in front of the cage, as she explained. "They are all just simple masks, easily tossed away and replaced with another. The true Hikari Hebi however does not like being threatened. EVER. I have hatred, but little of it is directed at my village or clan. If you believe that you are going to be consuming me, you are sorely mistaken. I do not die easily."

The fox spirit laughed loudly before returning his attention to her. **"Rarely do I ever say that I am pleasantly surprised by someone, but I must say Hikari Hebi, I am. No one has had the strength of will to be in my presence this long without quivering in their boots for over 10 years now and before that even longer." **The behemoth turned around and left her. **"Leave, I care not to have any more interaction with you at this time." **

"Well, well. Did I just make friends with the Nine-tailed Fox? I must be even better at making friends than I thought."

She deactivated her Sharingan and found herself standing in front of Naruto with her outstretched. _Mamoru, how long have I been gone? _

_Gone? You went somewhere? When?_

_I'll explain it later. _

"Alright, friends it is." He held out his hand and shook hers.

"Can I continue with class now… if you don't mind of course." Iruka said with barely contained rage.

"Um… Of course you may, I believe I've gotten all the information I needed for your performance review. I'll be turning your papers in to the Hokage immediately." She said trying to sound as officious as she could, of course, she didn't have a lot of practice with that role, but she'd give it an honest try.

"You have been here for barely five minutes." He said as his tone switched to disbelief.

"Well, it is more of a first impressions sort of thing… probably gonna need to uh… come back for a full performance review… thing." She opened the window to her immediate left and jumped out of the second story of the academy building. "Nice talking to you!" Hikari ran from the academy playground and headed towards the market, it was lunch time and she was in the mood for food.

* * *

><p>"Is there any particular reason why I find you vacating the academy via window?" Kakashi asked as he seemed to appear in front of her holding his book up. His tone seemed rather uncaring, but then again that was always his tone when he had his eyes glued to his book… which was most of the time really.<p>

"Visiting a new friend, and avoiding an old one." Hikari said with a smile.

"I see Anko's insanity did rub off on you. Listen I do have ground rules if I am going to be training you." Hikari nodded. "Rule number one, you can't poison or paralyze me. That is for enemy shinobi only. Rule number two, you're fuinjutsu training will be supplementary, which means a lot of it will be you doing it on your own, and me informing you why you are wrong." He handed her a single scroll. "In this scroll is the basics that you are going to be required to have memorized before our first fuinjutsu lesson in two weeks. "Rule number three, book time is me time. If we are training and I pull out my book, it means that I have reserved that time for me reading and you continuing with the exercise you were enacting prior." He paused for a few seconds. "Am I understood?"

"Hai, Sensei!" Hikari bowed and began walking back to her apartment complex, to bring all of her new scrolls so she could read them. She could barely contain her excitement at reading fuinjutsu basics and the Uchiha family jutsu.

Kakashi shouted after her as she made her way to her apartment. "Be sure to be at training field 10 at 8 in the morning sharp!"

"Hai!" She yelled back as she continued her run. "Field 10 at 8, I got it sensei."

* * *

><p>The fuinjutsu "basics scroll" had turned contain to a transport scroll seal contained three 400 page tomes. They were massive and heavy and ridiculously dry. It wasn't exactly like she was expecting a fantastic literary narrative that kept her turning the pages wondering just what might possibly happen next! BUT she had not anticipated that it would literally be a "Treatise on the Basic Principles of Sealing Techniques" or the "Basic Understanding of Sealing Array Interdependencies" or also "The Elementary Art of Sealing Matrices, and Their Underlying Functions." Before she could even start reading those "basic" textbooks though, she would have to memorize what was essentially another language. Different portions of the seal were designed to do different things, and a very slight change in the orientation of the markings could mean the difference between creating a storage scroll, and a creating a localized explosion… or a bunch of meaningless markings on paper.<p>

It was complicated, and she loved every second of it. She had always been partial to mathematics, but sealing was like what it would be if you combined that with intricate puzzles, and the potential to create mayhem. She poured herself over the texts and sealing matrices. She used her Sharingan so that everything that was absolutely necessary that she remember had been essentially burned into her memory, so that she could draw upon the information at any time she needed.

It wasn't even until her alarm clock had gone off that she realized what it was she had done. _Mamoru, did I just skip lunch and dinner and sleep to read about math? _She slowly turned her head to her alarm clock and noted that it was in fact 7 in the morning.

_You're oversimplifying it a bit, but that is essentially what happened_.

"Oh Kami! I'm going to be late for the first day of training!" she sprinted into her bathroom and began getting ready. "I didn't even look at the jutsu scrolls! What if this was information material and this is something I'm tested over?!" She paused for a second before that idea truly dwelled on her mind. "DOES KAKASHI GIVE TEST!? I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS GUY OTHER THAN THAT HE HAS GOOD TASTE IN PORN AND THAT'S NOT EVEN SOMETHING I AM SUPPOSED KNOW!"

_Hikari, you are shouting all of this in your shower… people will hear you._

_I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF PANICKING RIGHT NOW MAMORU! I DON'T WANT MY SENSEI TO THINK I'M INCOMPETENT._

_You two have met before, he knows you… well, he kinda knows you. Also, No one gives tests… probably._

_You aren't helping at all Mamoru._

_You didn't panic like this when we were meeting Anko._

_I didn't have time to panic when we met Anko, but what if Kakashi is expecting me to know something I don't know, then that reflects poorly on both Anko and me._

_Well, he is your teacher now… if he thought you knew everything he wouldn't need to teach you._

Hikari took a few deep breaths and looked at herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth. _You have a good point… this is hardly typical behavior. Maybe it's the lack of sleep and excess of nerves._

_Just get a quick breakfast and then head to the training field, you can read while you wait for him to get there. You'll probably start off with the basics._

Hikari placed the Basic Sealing Tomes back inside of their transport seal and held it under her arm as she slipped on her black shinobi sandals and stuffed her face with a breakfast bar. She sprinted her way across town and made it to training field 10 with 15 minutes to spare. Minutes she decided to dedicate to seeing what type of family jutsus she was dealing with.

Each scroll seemed to be sequential, and they had between 0 and 3 tomoe. "Might as well start with a look at the easiest one." Hikari said not realizing till too late that she was talking to herself. She winced at the realization before opening up the scroll. "Uchiha Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu… Huh, so it's like the regular fireball, but… grander" She said as she read through the intricacies of the technique.

The next scroll had a single tomoe over the seal. It was a basic paralysis genjutsu, useful for a police agency to have she had no doubt, but it did require direct eye contact with the recipient. _Locking my opponent in place would be nice, but having to stare into their eyes to render them immobile does put a damper on it. It's a pretty low level genjutsu, so it probably isn't that hard to break either._

The third scroll had two tomoe on it, but they were somewhat spread out, no doubt to demonstrate that they were supposed to be two eyes, but since there were only two of them they kinda looked like a couple of randomly placed commas… to the unknowing observer, of course. This scroll utilized both an ingenious genjutsu and the Sharingan's predictive capabilities to convince the victim that the user has the ability to predict their every move or even see the future. _It's a trick that is entirely reliant on my opponent falling for my bait like a sucker so that I complete the jutsu before he is done going through the hand signs. Making me look like I know his moves before he makes them. _

_Not really useful unless you just want to psyche the guy out and mess with his head if you ask me._

_Hey, these are my family jutsus, I'm sure I'll find a need for this someday…_

_Really?_

_Probably not, but my genjutsu has been really lacking and I don't have much talent for it, so this will help with that at least._

The final scroll had two tomoe on the right "eye" and a single tomoe on the left. This one contained a form of torture Genjutsu, which forced the victim into excruciating physical pain even though no actual damage was being applied. _Useful for police interrogations I'm sure, not as much mess to clean up if you don't actually stab and flay the suspect. _Hikari noticed that this particular scroll also seemed to have some sort of warning over the bottom of it."Warning: Do not use for extended periods of time. Usage for more than two hours in a single sitting has been known to result in irreparable damage to the user's eyes, and often leads to insanity or death for the victim… Alright, so not something I want to be regularly relying on."

_That's too bad, that one and the grand fireball are the coolest thing in your arsenal. The Uchiha really love their genjutsu it seems…_

_My knowledge of poisons and fuinjutsu might not be flashy, but it is still pretty cool Mamoru! _

_You don't have knowledge of fuinjutsu._

_NOT YET! It's something I'm working on obviously. I don't have any of these jutsu in my arsenal yet. My Shadow Fang's Strike is pretty cool…_

_Are you pouting?_

_NO! _She was interrupted from her pouting by the sound of a page turning and looked to see Kakashi sitting across from her open family scrolls, lazily reading through his favorite book series. She stared at him a few seconds before hastily returning all of her scrolls into her transport seal. "I don't know if your allowed to see those or not… but if you weren't, uh… you didn't see anything." She said as she "mystically" waved her hands in front of the two of them.

"No way am I being paid enough for this."


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note:

I told you I'd work overtime to get you guys a new chapter. I finally had some time that wasn't dedicated to family or decorations, so here I am! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I didn't have the usual problem where I would write for 30 minutes and then get distracted by something else for an hour and then go back to writing. Anyway, thanks for reading, I appreciate the support. I am still hoping to get chapter 10 out before New Year's, and it looks like that is definitely possible. ENJOY!

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Ch 9

The man laughed, he was in terrible pain, but he continued to laugh. He had not expected his little girl to have grown quite so strong. She was proficient in both the serpent Taijutsu as well as the Gentle Fist, but that wasn't even the icing on the cake. Whatever she had used to put him in this state was truly magnificent. It reminded him of Kabuto's chakra scalpels, bypassing skin or bone and tearing through the opponents… meatier bits. He licked his lips in anticipation.

These wounds weren't going to kill him, even if this host body wasn't as ideal as his greatest creation. Kabuto had already remedied most of the actual damage his daughter had dealt, leaving only no small amount of pain. If his daughter survived his little gift she would be in a lot of pain as well, so it seems that they're even.

She was going to be quite a wonderful body for him, and if their assumptions were correct, her state as his daughter would mean that she would be able to host him for much longer than three years before she started to reject him, if ever. She was going to be his keys for those eyes, those fantastic glorious eyes. His laughter continued as he thought about. "All the parts are soon to be in play, and little Hikari is becoming stronger every day. Now all I need to do is find something she needs that she'd be willing to sell herself to me for." He chuckled as he once again licked his lips. This was going to be fun.

* * *

><p>Kakashi got something out of his pocket that looked to be a used napkin before he placed his book into his kunai pouch. "Welcome to hell, I am not here to be your friend, I am here to teach you how to survive." He said in perfect monotone. "You are expected to follow my commands without question. Any questions?"<p>

"Is that question a test or is it a demonstration that you have come to the end of your speech?" Hikari asked genuinely confused.

He looked back at his napkin before replying. "It… doesn't actually say. There is more written on here, but it doesn't go into detail about the nature of the question." He paused for another moment. "I told Anko this speech idea was stupid. I wanted to do the old fashioned 'get to know each other' thing, but apparently you already did that."

"Yea, I have already done that… sorry." Hikari apologized.

"Well, I'm not coming up with anything new, so we are just going to do it again." Kakashi pointed to her. "So, name, likes, dislikes, and dreams."

"Hikari Hebi, I like food and training, I dislike shopping, and I am going to kill Orochimaru." Hikari said in a bored tone. "I do believe it is your turn now."

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, I like a great many thing, dislike a lot of stuff too, you aren't allowed to know my dreams." He said with an eye smile.

"That is very revealing." She said sarcastically. "I feel like I am already to risk my life for your safety. That's how close we've become."

_Wow, I can taste the sarcasm from here. It's saltier than you'd expect._

"Yea, well if all goes well you won't have to do that. You on the other hand are a living breathing liability for me." Everything he said had an air of aloofness and outright disinterest, it would have been infuriating if it hadn't sounded so cool.

"That's a bit of a harsh assessment given the only time we've met has been on a mission where I mangled a jinchuriki and killed a man."

"I don't remember you killing anyone." He said with what only seemed to be passing interest.

"Oh yea… that was when I had to go back to apologize." She remembered. "Regardless, that part did happen."

He sat quietly for a few moments. "Well, there is training that we need to get done, I take it you've already had your fill of the D-rank assignments?" Hikari nodded vigorously. "Alright, in that case we'll do a bit of exercises, and I'll pick up a C-rank at the Hokage's office sometime this week. When we are ready." He clapped his hands together. "Alright, tell me what you can do."

"I've already learned to throw my senbon at long distances, I have a working knowledge of poisons, but mostly snake-based ones, I can do all the beginner level Academy Jutsu, I am pretty good with chakra strings and razor-wire, don't use them very often, but I'm at least passable with them, I can do the water-walking stuff, I've been doing spear training for a while now so I've gotten pretty good at that, I know some snake based jutsus, and I know some Fire Style Jutsu. I am working on the Uchiha stuff and I've memorized 48 of the 75 basic sealing matrices as well as have knowledge of how most of those 48 matrices operate independently and when part of a system." She said this rather mechanically.

"If I know Anko, she has trained you to use senbon to pin a fly's wings to a tree without killing it." Hikari merely nodded her head. "I still don't know where she finds all those flies… That's beside the point though. I'm surprised you said 'snake jutsu.' What do you mean by that?"

"Snake Jutsu, you know like the striking shadow snake, Spear of the Serpent summoning, Shadow Fang's Strike." She counted each one off on her hand to emphasize the list. "Stuff like that."

"Shadow Fang's Strike? Can't say I've ever heard of such a thing."

Hikari stood up and walked to a tree that was located a few feet away to her right. The tree was relatively small for a Konohan Oak, barely a foot in diameter and hardly reached 15 feet in height. She went through her hand seals with Kakashi at her back and then felt the chakra flow to her right hand. She reared her hand back and scraped it diagonally across the bark of the tree. She turned away from the tree and sat back down next to Kakashi.

"That was slightly underwhelming if I'm being-" he was interrupted by the snapping of the tree and the resulting crash as it collapsed under its own weight. "completely… honest."

"Deals almost no external physical damage to an enemy, it does however deal massive damage to the inside, where all the important bits are located." She lifted up her right hand and turned it back and force as if looking she was inspecting a weapon. "Shadow Fang's Strike." She said with a smile

"Alright, I must admit you have my attention. You are quite a strong and capable genin, you are actually closer to low to mid-level chunin. That being said you are not on par with a jonin who is fighting you to the death, and the person you want to kill can grind an entire group of jonin working together into a fine powder." He held his hand out in such a way that seemed like he was asking Hikari to help him up. He didn't seem like he was going to say anything, so she obliged him. "Thank you. Orochimaru is one of the three legendary Sanin, some of the greatest warriors the leaf has ever produced, you aren't going to kill him on your own, I know because I've tried." Hikari looked at her teacher with some newfound respect.

_So, he does know what he's doing, at least enough to go toe-to-toe with Orochimaru and live to tell about it, but then again I did that as well._

_I get the feeling that he wanted you to land that blow, Hikari. The opening was too obvious, not something an S-class criminal would leave exploitable for as long as he did. I don't think he wanted to kill you, but I don't think he's wishing you well either._

_Well if it wasn't a fight to the death for me it might not have been a fight to the death for him either… but it probably was. Don't see what purpose he'd have for keeping Kakashi alive._

He walked her to the center of the training field. "If you are going to become an S-Class shinobi, I am going to be putting you through an S-Class training regimen. If you ever thought you understood what it meant to be sore, you are…" He paused for a few seconds as if contemplating something important. "sorely mistaken."

"Was that a joke or could you not come up with a better word?"

"We'll just say both and then you'll put on these." He pulled out some kind of concrete filled training vest with matching leg and arm weights. "Your old weights will no longer do, they do their job, but far too slowly." Hikari moved her old weight from her body followed by an uncharacteristically loud thud as her weight left small craters in the earth where they impacted. "The old ones made you feel like you weren't improving, but you gradually got accustomed to moving at a set rate, this stuff makes it look like the weights you were wearing was as light as a feather." He said as he held it out for her.

She took it in her hands and almost fell over from the sheer titanic weight of it. "Aren't you worried I might deal permanent damage to my spine with this kinda thing? It's not exactly low key, I can't wear this under my shirt, if we have to do covert ops I'll be trundling around in the jungle with weights that could crush an elephant."

Kakashi waved her off. "Don't be ridiculous, this wouldn't crush an elephant. Also, the damage to your spine will be minimal, the weights distributed across the entire body so that every part of you shares the burden, it's a weight transference seal of my own creation. I'm pretty proud of it."

She put on the weights and he was right, all of her felt like it was being weighed down by a whole herd of elephants sitting on various portions of her body. It was going to be a struggle to move let alone run or fight. "Alright, you are going to do 10 laps around the village, without using chakra to propel yourself. If you feel like you are in desperate need for water… uhhh you'll have to ask me when you get back to this spot. Have Fun!" He said as he disappeared into a shunshin.

"That bastard…" She said as she slowly trudged off, she was trying to run, but her body literally would let her when she attempted a full sprint she went at about her usual fast walking pace. Every step left her gasping in effort and she had only just started. "This is going to be one long ass day."

_Language, naughty word._

_Shut up._

* * *

><p>Hikari made her way to training field 10 as the sun began to set. She had just finished her laps and every single part of her body felt like it had set on fire. She was breathing heavily and she had a thick layer of sweat on her skin and clothing. She got to the center of the field and collapsed into a pile of torn muscle and heavy cement. Even laying down wasn't much in terms of comfort, but it still beat standing that was for sure.<p>

"It's about time you made it back, I was beginning to get worried, thought maybe you'd passed out while running." Hikari painfully lifted up her arm to give him a gesture that wasn't demonstrative of her regular, kind nature. "If you think today is bad, wait till tomorrow. You're doing it again, only this time you start off sore."

Hikari was catching her breath for a moment. "Is there anything else for today, Sensei?" She said from her position on the ground.

Kakashi appeared in her line of vision to the left. "Yes, take off those weight, we are doing some chakra exercises." She happily obliged before she sat up. "Now, this thing here, is called Chakra Paper. It'll tell me what element you have a natural affinity for." He said as he pulled out a sheet of blank paper.

"I've already done this Kakashi, I'm fire natured."

"Well, I didn't get to see last time, but I would like to see it, so get to it." He handed her the sheet.

"Fine. Geez." She put the chakra paper in between her fingers and sent a small pulse through it. "The paper crumpled together as fire passed through it, leaving nothing but ash in its wake.

Kakashi put his hand to his chin. "Again." He handed her another piece of chakra paper and stared even more intently at her. She obliged again, if slightly annoyed at having to repeat such a simple process. She fed a pulse into the paper, and once again it crumple as the fire passed over it. "Looks like, you've got yourself a duel nature. Fire and Lightning nature. Which is good, Anko trained you in some fire, looks like I'll get to train you in lightning then."

"But… I thought you only got one chakra nature."

"Usually, but you're hardly usual." Hikari winced a little at that, but he was too engrossed in his explanation to notice. "You have a dual nature, but the lightning nature is noticeably weaker than the fire one, it's why it was overpowered by the flames in the chakra paper. I am not surprised that Anko missed it, it was a hard thing to pick up." He handed her a twig with two small branching ends that were barely more than an inch apart at the widest. "Channel chakra into that until you see a spark jump across the two ends, then you'll have part one done." He turned around and then headed into town. "Dismissed." He turned back around before adding. "Remember to put your weights back on. Tomorrow, same time same place." Hikari grimaced before giving him a nod.

She was sore now, she couldn't imagine how she'd feel when she actually woke up. She grudgingly put the weights back on before picking up her stick and trudging her way to a restaurant. She had done some good training tonight, she deserved to treat herself to a night of no cooking. She made her way to some barbecue place while she attempted to send her chakra to the stick to make it spark. The ends combusted a few times while she was walking, but no sparks. She sat down and glared at her stick. _I am not going to lose to a paltry piece of wood._

_YOU GO GIRL! STRIKE THE FEAR OF KAMI INTO THAT NON-SENTIENT OBJECT!_

_Your sarcasm is not appreciated Mamoru. _

The waitress brought her a water before moving on to the other tables that were vying for her attentions. Hikari continued sending up the twig, she could feel the insides of the twig increase in heat. _That's not what I want, how do I tell my chakra to be electric? It just wants to be fire._

_Think lightningy thoughts._

_That's humorous but not helpful in the slightest. _She still decided to give it a try, she tried to envision electricity passing through the twig as opposed to flame, but she just couldn't seem to do it. It was hard putting herself in the mindset of something like electricity.

_You are Thinking lightningy thoughts! I expect an apology!_

_You'll get one if this works, but until then shut it!_

She tried to think on what she knew about lightning. It was fast. It could be released in little bursts of static or in big bursts of lightning. It had a lot of energy associated with it. It didn't need a slow buildup leading from point A to B. _That's what I'll do! _She immediately stuck the stick in her water. _I'll just force my chakra into a lightning state if it wants to be dissipated. With fire, there is a slow buildup of heat leading to combustion. I just need to not allow it that buildup and instead send out fast pulses of thin high energy chakra._

_Isn't the water kinda… cheating?_

_NO! I needed the stick cooled down the twig a bit. I've been sending fire chakra to it after all, it's gained a lot of heat. _She held the bottom of the twig between both of her hands and began to channel quick bursts of high energy chakra from the bottom of the twig to the top before releasing it. The bottom of her twig was beginning to show burn marks, but not the kind she'd get from fire, so that meant she was improving. There still weren't any sparks though.

Some lady poked her arm. "What!?" Hikari asked a bit too angrily.

"Don't give me that tone, I've asked you three times, what would you like to order?" The waitress said annoyed.

"Oh… sorry. I was in my own little world. I'll just take the Mongolian Pork please." Her attentions went around the restaurant to take in her surroundings. She was in a moderately sized dining area, they probably wouldn't be able to fit more than 120 people at max capacity, but right now that didn't look like it was much of a problem. There were perhaps 5 patrons besides herself at the Mongolian diner she had shuffled herself into. It was on the outskirts of the downtown residential area, so it made sense for it to be away from the hustle and bustle.

That being said they all seemed to be eyeballing her. Like there was a visible stink coming from her booth. She sniffed herself on impulse. She smelled a bit sweaty, she wasn't a fresh batch of spring roses, but not nearly bad enough to warrant that kinda attention. Which was when she saw the all too familiar look in their eyes. They looked like they were watching an animal at the ready to attack at the drop of the hat. A monster in human clothing, waiting for the opportune moment to tear the village down to its very foundations. Hatred and disgust with a small dash of fear. A recipe she knew far too well.

She remembered why she didn't like eating out or shopping alone. The stares always followed. If she had been with someone she could have ignored them, but not like this. Not so… naked and visible. She wanted to curl up and make herself as small as possible. They couldn't stare at what they couldn't see. She hated these people for hating her. She hadn't done anything wrong, why were they doing this? She had only helped the village since the day she was born, but they didn't care. Save the village a thousand times and she would still be a monster to them; she'd merely be on the Hokage's leash.

Some bandaged old man sat down in the booth seat across from her. "I don't recall inviting anyone to sit with me." She said curtly. She was angry, and she was not in the mood to be called an abomination.

"Perhaps not, so you'll have to forgive me for my intrusion." His voice was low and demanded attention. His bearing gave off an air of regality, even with the arm and right eye covered in bandages. He seemed like a rather wizened old man.

"I suppose I can forgive you." She said as she brought her water to her lips. It tasted like tree. She looked down to the moist twig to the right of her in her booth. _Right… I am a genius._

"I suppose you don't know who I am." The old man said as he motioned the waitress with his one good hand.

"Can't say that I do if I'm being honest with you sir." She said as she placed her cup of water back on the table.

"I am Danzo Shimura, and I have been keeping a very close eye on you for some time now." Hikari stiffened at this, praying to all the kami she could think of that it hadn't been noticeable. "Hikari Hebi, turning 12 years old in 10 days, contract summoner of the snakes, as well as the inheritor of their fighting styles and jutsu, and that's only the tip of your iceberg."

Hikari kept her tone cool and level-headed. "Well, you've certainly done your homework on me, but you are still a mystery to me. I am not what you'd call a fan of surprises, and you certainly are a surprise."

Danzo chuckled. "I am the leader of a secret faction within the ANBU Black Ops known as ROOT."

"Not so secret if you're telling me so openly is it?" She gestured to the bar only to see that it was completely devoid of life. "Alright, not so openly it seems."

"I trust you will be discreet, which is why I am comfortable with being honest with you. We at ROOT create the best of the best and we go on the most dangerous missions that are crucial to the survival of the Leaf Village." He said in a very serious tone that would brook no nonsense. Making jokes seemed like the last thing she should do.

"I appreciate that you would consider me for this honor, but I was told by the Hokage to complete my tutelage with Kakashi-Sensei before joining the ANBU. There are still more things that I need to learn before I could undertake a responsibility like that." She chose her words very carefully, Danzo did not seem like the kind of old man that she would want to be on the bad side of.

He merely nodded his head. "Of course, Kakashi is an excellent shinobi and teacher. He spent some time with ROOT during his time in the ANBU. He can't tell you about it, of course. All of the missions he was sent on were A or S-ranked classified secrets. Not even the Hokage knows about the intricacies of the ROOT program. Who's been involved and who our current members are, and it's important that it be kept a secret, people who are in ROOT risk their lives for the good of the village every single day. It is important that they maintain their anonymity. I'll speak to you again after you become a Chunin, I can already tell you are going to be a strong Kunoichi, don't squander your talents while you wait around for Sarutobi to realize your brilliance." He said as he stood up and leaned slightly forward on his cane.

"Thank you, Danzo-" She paused for a moment to consider the honorific she should give him. "Danzo-Sama, I appreciate you taking the time to speak to me."

He gave her an almost grandfatherly smile before walking away. "It was a pleasure."

_That guy was kinda creepy, but impassioned. Shinobi tend to have little quirks, I guess giving off a creepy vibe makes sense when you live to be as old as that guy is. I mean Anko is a psychopath sometimes, so he could be a lot worse. _

_Don't let the invitation to ANBU get to your head we aren't ready for those kind of fights yet._

The waitress bought her the food and she reapplied her focus to forming a spark between the two prongs. All throughout her dinner she tried. She tried while she was paying the check. While walking home. While lying in bed. While reading her fuinjutsu scrolls. She pulsed her chakra till her hands started aching and her eyes started to collapse from exhaustion. It was only 9, but having not slept was really starting to put a dampener on her cognitive functions.

She felt her eyes closing and slept face first into her list of sealing matrices. Sleeping her usual dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>When Hikari's eyes fluttered open everything began to hurt. Her entire being was sore, which meant her sleep wasn't exactly what she'd call restful. The fact that she had an elephant sitting on her didn't make her morning any less miserable. She struggled to stand and trudge her way into her bathroom to shower and clean herself up. She hadn't showered after her workout, so she felt pretty gross. <em>I'm going to need to wash my sheets… I hate washing sheets.<em>

_The snake you are trying to reach, is sleeping. Please bother someone else with your problems. 4:30 is sleepy time for me._

_IT'S ONLY 4:30?! I ONLY GOT 7 ½ HOURS OF SLEEP?_

_Yes, stop mentally screaming, you are ruining my rest._

_Well, this sucks, I was hoping to feel rested and rejuvenated._

_Did you really expect that though?_

_I guess not… but that doesn't mean I didn't want it. _She dried her hair and brushed her teeth and generally got ready for the rest of her day. No point in trying to go back to sleep now, once she was awake she was awake, and no amount of wishing for more rest was going to remedy that situation.

Standing hurt, she couldn't imagine having to actually run her laps and finish before sundown again… but maybe if she started now, she would finish a few hours early and get to actually train. It was the perfect plan. Well… not a perfect plan per se, but it was better than sitting around for 3 hours. She ran, well tried to run, to training field 10 after she finished pulling on a fresh set of clothes.

It took her 30 minutes to make it to the middle of the training field. Once she finally managed to trudge herself to the center of her training field, she summoned Mamoru. After the smoke finally cleared it revealed her favorite sassy, gargantuan snake monster… sleeping with a fluffy, blue sleeping hat on. Wait, how on earth did he manage to put that on… and keep it on. He has said multiple times he can't do stuff cause he doesn't have arms. HOW DID HE MANAGE THIS?! It was really cute though.

She lightly punched his nose. "Mamoru, wake up! If I don't get to sleep neither do you." She said as she began shaking the big snakes head.

_If it wasn't my sworn duty to protect you I would be eating you so hard right now. _His eyes were filled with anger and sadness at being awoken from his peaceful sleep.

She dropped the book filled with the sealing matrices in front of him. "You'll be re-reading to me everything I've read about matrix integration while I go on my run, and if you fall asleep I'll thing about that really annoying girly song that you hate until you wake up.

_You wouldn't dare._

_TRY ME!_

Mamoru wasn't ready to call her bluff, so he tried to use his tail to flip to the proper page without accidentally ripping any of the paper. "Booksss were a lot easssier, when my tail was sssmaller and I didn't have to worry about breaking anything." When Mamoru actually spoke he seemed to do it much more ponderously than he did when they chatted mentally, she had actually forgotten that he did that thing with his s's.

"Yea, well that's my only copy, big boy. You better not break it. I know where you live."

_You'd have to search through an entire forest to find me though._

_Or I'd instantly transport you to my current position._

_Touché_

Hikari started her "run" while Mamoru read off the pages of text about what kind of interactions you could solicit by integrating two different sealing matrices… the answer was a lot, and exponentially more possibilities as you increased the number of different matrix styles on the seal array. Typically however, you did not use anything more than 4 types of matrixes and even then usually only 8 "prongs." Anymore and it was possible for the seal to essentially buckle under its own weight and become unstable, and once you got into the neighborhood of unstable sealing, things got a lot more complicated.

Sometimes it felt like sealing was organized chaos, but that's part of what drew her to it. She realized that she wasn't exactly looking where she was going (she was literally looking at the pages through Mamoru's eyes and letting muscle memory take care of the rest) so when she crashed into some strange thing made of flesh she was jarred for a moment. She tore her eyes from the book and toward the familiar face of a boy with a bowl cut and clad in a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers.

"Hikari-Chan, you are carrying so much weight! I am so excited to see the Flames of your Youth burning so brightly!" Hikari was happy to see Lee after so long, but she had to suppress a groan at his "Flames of Youth."

_Oh dear. _"Hello, Lee-Kun." She said as she put on a smile. "What are you doing out here so early?" It was way too early for any sane person to be doing exercises…. Well, to be fair she had a decent reason and it wasn't her usual routine.

"Gai-Sensei and I always do early morning training before the crack of dawn. We let our flames of youth guide us!" He was energetically waving his arms around this time.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Hikari instinctually dropped to the ground as she began to sense a presence appear behind her. A presence that proceeded to kick Lee in the face and launch him a good 40 feet. "I must say your reflexes are quite Youthful!" The adult version of Lee said with a twinkle coming from his teeth. _How did he do that… there is no natural light out to reflect from his teeth! How does he routinely defy the laws of nature? _"You on the other hand Lee, have been shown up by your eternal rival, that is 1-0 to her favor."

Lee appeared before his sensei bowing apologetically with tears running down his eyes. "I am so sorry Gai-Sensei! I have failed you! Her flames of youth must burn brighter!"

Gai-Sensei punched him again and launched him another 30 feet this time. "Preposterous, you will merely need to work harder next time. That is what I do with Kakashi, it is what you must do with Hikari!"

Lee appeared next to Gai with a literal fire in his eyes. "Of course Gai-Sensei! You are so wise and brilliant!"

"Wait… when did I become Lee's eternal rival? Where was I when this happened?" Hikari was genuinely confused by the repeated acts of affection and aggression, as much as she was confused by the proclamation that she was someone's rival.

"Oh, Hikari. You are just like Kakashi when he and I were younger. He didn't admit that we were rivals at first either." He put his arm around her and then waved his other hand in front of him as if he were showing her something magical. She didn't see anything in particular just a regular stretch of Konoha's wall and the forest, there weren't even many stars out so it couldn't be that. "The bond that holds two eternal rivals together is closer than that of brothers. Kakashi may try to be cool, but I know that I can count on him to help me become stronger and better shinobi. That is what it means to be an eternal rival. Someone to help each other become stronger than they were the day before."

It sounded like what he had gotten confused between eternal rival and sparring buddy. "Thanks Gai-Sensei, I'll… uh, be sure to remember that nugget of wisdom." She said as she slowly tried to get away from the yelling dup, it was far too early in the morning for that kind of energy.

"Hikari-Chan, I am looking forward to our spar on your birthday!" He said excitedly. "I would like to show you how much it is that I have improved!"

She merely gave him a thumbs up as she began to trudge away from the pair. She had laps to do and matrices to memorize.

Hikari had just finished her 7th lap when Mamoru informed her that Kakashi had made his way to the center of training field 10. _It's about time he got here, It's noon, he's 4 hours late!_

_His lateness didn't actually effect anything._

_YEA! Well… he's still late, and failed to abide by our verbal agreement to get here at 8. Whatever, I'll make him wait as I finish my last 3 laps. _It wasn't until around 3:30 that she actually managed to finish the last of her laps, and even then she didn't actually make it to the training field till 4.

"Well, aren't you a busy bee. So gung ho for training you start off without me?" Hikari breathed heavily. She would have retorted but standing there was making it hard to breath. "Take off your weights for a minute." Hikari removed her weight and felt like she could jump to the moon, the relief of having those monstrous weights off her was better than a hundred hours at a spa.

Hikari took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. "How did Mamoru behave while I was gone?"

"I was a perfect gentle-sssnake." He said as he threw the book at her head with his tail. She caught it and placed it back in its transportation seal.

"Alright Kakashi, I've done my laps. What's next?" Hikari was excited to get on with her training. She was still exhausted and in pain, but she could ignore that if it meant she would be doing something interesting.

"Did you manage to send a spark through the twig?" He said with an eye smile.

"N-No." Hikari said rather dejectedly. "I tried to from the time training ended to the time I fell asleep, it just wouldn't spark."

"Fantastic." Hikari almost fell over, she didn't know what she was expecting but it wasn't that. "Wood isn't what you'd call electrically conductive… not most of the time at least. So what that was, was me trying to get you to get a feel for your lightning chakra." He pulled out a large spool of thick ninja wire. "Hold this." He handed her the end of the wire and took the spool and tied it around the tree. He walked back to her and held out his hand. "Thank you." He said as Hikari handed over the thick wire. "So, you just need to channel your lightning chakra, and-" A huge spark of light appeared before her and she heard a thunderclap that nearly deafened her. "-voila! Electric chakra at its finest."

He untied the spool from the tree and then turned around to see Mamoru and Hikari with nearly identical expressions of having their jaw hit the floor. "Of course I'm not expecting you to do this, I just want to see if you can actually send an electric current through the wire." He handed her the end again, but she didn't snap out of her gaze. It wasn't until he started waving his hand back and forth in front of her face that he managed to get her attention again. "Take the wire and push your chakra into it, I want to get a feel for it."

She nodded her head and put the string in her hands. She started out by sending pulses of high energy chakra through the string. Kakashi put his hand on it and contemplated while she pushed her chakra through the string and to the tree. _That can't possibly be safe for him, what if I was a lot better at lightning control then he expected and I accidentally killed him. Is that murder or involuntary manslaughter?_

"You have a decent enough current, but it isn't stable, it keeps fluctuating. Try a constant stream of chakra instead." Hikari pushed high energy chakra out of her hands and attempted to maintain it with all the concentration she could muster. Kakashi seemed to just be contemplating while he held the electrified wire in his hands. "Not bad. I think that I'll get us a C-rank mission tomorrow. You seem to have a decent enough understanding of what it is that your lightning chakra is expected to 'feel' like. So I'll teach you one when we are out for the mission." He released his hand from the wire. "You can keep that. Don't forget, our first fuinjutsu training session is in four days, we'll be going over the ins and outs of basic seals like the transport seal and the explosion tag. We'll probably still be on mission for that, so bring some paper, I'll get the brushes and ink."

Hikari excitedly nodded before she turned back to her weights and donned the monstrosity yet again. "I'm not going to be wearing this on missions am I?" When she turned around Kakashi was already gone.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note:

Guys… I've made a terrible mistake. I'VE BEEN CALLING THEM TRANSPORT SEALS WHEN THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CALLED STORAGE SEALS! I look like an idiot! I don't think it is big enough to warrant me going through all of the chapters and finding it and changing it to what it is supposed to be, but I am still upset that I made such a stupid error q-q. That being said, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, getting a lot of time to write has really helped me boost these thing out, and I am loving it. At this rate I might be getting Ch 11 out by New Year's… MAYBE NO PROMISE THOUGH!

BTW be forewarned, shit gets pretty fucking dark this chapter… then it gets violent… then it gets mushy. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 10

Hikari was waiting at the gate for her sensei while she went over the last of her 75 sealing matrixes that she needed to know. Yesterday's training had been more of the same, and today the two of them were supposed to be delivering a scroll to the Kazekage in the Village Hidden in the Sands. It was probably the formal invitation to the chunin exams that would be happening in a little over a year. If Hikari was being honest, she was surprised that they were giving such a long notice for something that was only a couple days walk, but apparently it was a pretty big deal.

Sunagakure was going to be a 2-3 day long trip there depending upon how quickly they were expected to go. Which meant that she would be most likely be back in Konoha when her birthday came around. Hikari was pretty sure if she missed her birthday spar with her "eternal rival" he might just break down into tears.

Kakashi appeared next to her in a shunshin of leaves and smoke. "What are you waiting around here for? We have a job that needs to get done."

Hikari was considering replying with her usual sarcasm, but figured they might as well get on the road. It was noon and he had told her to be there at "8 o'clock sharp"… maybe that was code word for noon cause he'd made that mistake three days in a row, that couldn't possibly be coincidence.

She stood up and placed all of her assorted books and scrolls into her transport seals. She had been practicing her new genjutsus on squirrels… well not the imitation one, obviously. She couldn't really tell if the paralysis one was working or if the squirrel was just staring at her, but the torture one was definitely working. Those pained squeaks still haunted her waking hours, there was just something so very wrong about torturing the poor animals that hadn't done anything to incur her wrath. That being said she wasn't going to hesitate to use it on an enemy ninja.

"We are already behind schedule, so I guess that means we are going a bit quicker to make up for it." Hikari said as she began walking out of the gate towards Sunagakure.

"Yea, I guess it's for the best that we didn't bring your new training weights, we need to get there before the year ends, and I'll be honest, you probably wouldn't have made it." He said as he ran past her and took to the trees. "You did remember to bring your old weights right?" She jumped next to him and held up her arm showing him her weights. "Good. Wouldn't want your new muscle to go to waste from lack of use."

"That would be a shame, even with these weights on I feel as light as a feather without those monstrosities crushing my bones." She said with a slight smile on her face. It really was a relief being out of those damned weights, she was still sore all over, but she hoped that by this mission was going to be simple and relaxing. Like her other C-class mission that had been boring as hell. She would like a little bit of boring.

* * *

><p>WRONG<p>

They were a day and a half out from Konoha when they saw it. Hikari and Kakashi hopped to the ground when they came across a series of upturned carts lying in the middle of the road. Upon closer inspection, it had been a slaughter. Blood pooled where merchants and the horses they had used for transport had been butchered. Their wares strewn across the road. Soaked in blood. Bodies lay slumped over the carts, but some had been simply butchered in the streets. There had been a woman traveling with them, and it had been obvious that whoever had done this to them had had something extra in mind for the young woman.

Hikari was filled with a nearly unquenchable rage, this had happened right outside the border of fire country, and she would not stand for it. "We are finding who did this." Hikari said her tone was absolute and final. She would not be taking no for an answer. She somewhat reluctantly took a taste of the air. Blood and piss. Still relatively fresh. These people had been slaughtered within the last 12 hours.

"Hikari, I understand your upset, but this is technically Suna land, this-" He motioned to the grisly display in front of them. "is their responsibility. As much as I understand the desire to see them pay for their crimes, we are simply outside of our jurisdiction."

Hikari didn't even hear a word he had said, she was focusing on recreating what had happened, she wasn't an expert tracker, but she had picked up quite a few things on her hunts with Mamoru. She could find them. She would find them. "So are you going to help me kill them, or what?"

Kakashi sighed before he went through a series of hand signs and placed his hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" He yelled as a plume of smoke rose up from where his hand impacted the ground. The smoke cleared to reveal a rather adorable pug.

The pug jumped away from Hikari and growled. "When did Orochimaru get so short?" He paused before he decided to post an addendum. "And get breasts?"

Hikari's eye twitched and she could swear she heard glass shatter somewhere._ This pug is no longer cute, I don't like him he is an asshole._

Mamoru was just laughing his non-existent ass off.

Kakashi quickly covered the pug's mouth and began whispering quietly into his ears. Understanding began to dawn on the pug's face. "Oh, so she's his abandoned pup." Hikari was absolutely bristling with killing intent. Kakashi smacked his forehead with the hand that wasn't holding the pug. "She smells like snake, but I can hardly blame her for that." He looked around the grisly scene surrounding the carts. "Why don't you ever summon me some place nice, like a park? It's always a warzone or tracking with you."

"Sorry, Pakkun." Kakashi said rather unenthusiastically. "We need your help tracking the people who did this. I'm pretty sure it is just a garden variety brand of bandits. Ninjas wouldn't have been this sloppy."

Pakkun began to sniff the ground and walked around the scene. "You're right, doesn't smell like ninjas. This must have happened within the last four to six hours. Should be pretty easy to follow, I'm estimating a bandit group about 20 strong. We should expect the leader to be high-genin to mid-chunin level strength." He began moving to the right of the road they had been traveling. They went this way."

The three of them took to the trees. The hunt was on.

* * *

><p>Gako sat at the entrance of their little "bandit camp." Guard duty was pointless, even on a night after a robbery. Their outfit was too small to warrant anyone actually coming after them and too large to be stopped by the bunch of farmers and low-level merchant that lived around here. Their most recent "score" as the boss called it was a paltry amount of coin, some food that was going to market, and some useless knick knacks that weren't worth much of anything. The girls they had been escorting were pretty good. Too bad the prettiest one tried to get violent while the boss was taking her, she probably would have been a good lay. The other two were a bit more… cooperative after they saw their friend's throat slit in front of them. They still cried when they were passed around the camp, but it wasn't any fun if they didn't resist a little.<p>

After the first couple of rounds they had completely stripped them down before throwing them into one of the larger tents and tying them to a post. In such a way that they had their bare asses presented to the boys, no point making it harder to take them than necessary. He was in the mood for another round, he'd probably head over after he had finished with this boring ass guard duty.

He didn't get any further with that thought. He heard a squishy thud and then found it impossible to breath. He held his hand up to his neck to find it gushing his warm blood. A small thin piece of metal was protruding out of his neck. He tried to hold his hand up to his neck to help stem the flow, but began choking on his own blood instead. He pulled out the metal and a stream of blood was expulsed from his neck. Dead within seconds.

* * *

><p>Hikari looked over the corpse of the "guard" that hadn't been paying near enough attention to the world around him. He had not suffered nearly enough, but she would make up for it. Make up for it in spades. Hikari moved amongst the tents killing the few people that were supposed to be keeping watch for people like her. Their deaths were quick, silent better than they deserved.<p>

When everyone who could have raised an alarm had been routinely slaughtered she began to hear crying. Light, quiet sobs that weren't supposed to be heard. Desperate and hurting. It was coming from one of the tents near the outskirts of the encampment. She opened up the flaps silently and peeked inside. What she saw made her sick. Two young women, completely naked and covered in small cuts and large bruises were tied to a post, in such a way that they were forced onto their knees, bodies slumped against the posts that they had clung to. Their bodies were still, whoever had used them last had decided that they had exhausted their usefulness, and spilt their blood all over the floor. Hikari's heart filled with rage.

THEY. WOULD. BURN.

Hikari turned away from the tent. She could feel her curse mark pulsing with power. She would use it, just this once, just so that she could have the power she needed to burn this place to the ground. Strange black markings began to emanate from the curse mark, and her entire being felt invigorated.

POWER. SO MUCH POWER.

She went through the hand seals needed for her Grand Fireball Jutsu, and let all of her rage and hatred bring the chakra to a boil in her chest. "Uchiha Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" She shouted as she engulfed half of the camp into a raging inferno. The screams of the dying nearly drowning the sounds of crackling wood as the fire raged on.

BURN.

Hikari was going to watch them die, she was going to bring them to the gates of hell personally. She drew her spear and coated it with the most painful poison she had at her disposal. It took three agonizing days filled with pain and misery as the poison broke down the body before the sweet bliss of death would be welcomed by her victims. She didn't have time to kill them this way, but they would hurt before she made them burn.

A few of the bandits seemed to have their senses knocked into them by the man that appeared to be in charge of the operation. He would be saved for last. The five bandits sprinted at her, hoping to overwhelm her with their superior numbers. Hikari's insane smile and tortured laugh was almost enough to make the criminals drop a load in their pants. She almost appear in front of them as she finished a set of hand signs. "Phoenix Fireball Jutsu." She said almost impassively, as if she was commenting on the weather. She shot a small ball of flame into each of her opponents' chests. The impact alone launched the men backwards into their flaming camp.

Their dying screams of agony were music to her ears.

"Stay back you monster!" The boss yelled as he raised a ninjato up with both hand. They were shaking, quivering even.

Hikari's Sharingan flashed into activity. "Do I frighten you?" She almost purred. Her strange black markings dissipating and returning to her neck. "You think I'm a monster?" She smiled before she started walking forward. Her entire being emanating a potent killing intent. "You haven't seen anything yet."

* * *

><p>Kakashi was in the trees. Hikari had told him to take out any of the bastards that had tried to run away, but she had been… diligent to ensure that no one made it out of there. He heard the screams of pain echoing across the forest. The inferno that had been the camp would have been blinding.<p>

The fires began to die down with an oncoming rain. Almost like mother nature was trying to wash away a stain upon her surface. _Poetic thinking doesn't do anyone any good, and it just makes you look pretentious. _Kakashi thought to himself as he observed the damages. He could only hear one man's scream tear across the clearing. Which meant Hikari wasn't going to kill the man, her plan was to torture him.

His eyes scanned the clearing until he came across the source of the screams. One man screaming his throat raw, as Hikari looked at him, utterly impassive to his pain. He sent a kunai flying and it impaled the man through the eye. It was messy, but it ended him.

Hikari turned to him eyes filled with rage as the rain made her hair start to clump. "Why did you do that!? He wasn't finished paying for his crimes!"

"We are done here Hikari!" Kakashi's tone was firm, final. "We do not torture to make people pay. We do it to gather information to protect the village. Leaf shinobi do not encourage suffering, we finish it."

Hikari's eyes were downcast. "The girl at the road… she wasn't the only one."

"What?" His eyes softened.

"Two more girls, probably barely even 15 if that… They killed them. I didn't save them, wasn't fast enough… didn't even know they were there till too late." The rage that had filled her eyes was replaced with grief.

Kakashi didn't know what to say. He had the emotional intelligence of a small child on his best days, he didn't know anything about consoling. He hadn't been trained to deal with this. She wasn't even upset about the 22 men she had just ruthlessly cut down. It was the people she had failed to save that haunted her… He understood that. The sting of failure, the inability to protect. He knew that far too well.

Hikari lifted her face. The momentary glimpse of sadness he had seen in her was replaced with stone. She wore a mask almost as effectively as he did. "We have a mission to accomplish, and we are even more behind schedule." She said as she turned her back to the camp once more and took to the trees.

Kakashi sighed once before he followed after the young girl. _I can't help her sort through the emotional stuff, but maybe if I taught her a jutsu and kept her mind busy, she could sort through it herself._

"Kakashi-Sensei?" The girl asked from in front of him, she sounded… vulnerable. "What should I feel right now?"

Kakashi didn't have the first clue as to how to answer that question. "That's something you'll have to decide for yourself." _That's vague enough to be helpful, good thinking brain._

"That isn't helpful at all." She said as her voice returned to its monotone.

_Damn it! _"I'm… not really good with emotions, or talking. As a matter of fact if it weren't for the fact that we had a mission to accomplish I would be avoiding this conversation like a plague. I don't know what you should feel. Some would say that you did the world a service by killing those men, others probably won't see it that way." Kakashi pulled up so that he was moving parallel to her "The important question is whether or not you can live with what you've done." His eyes seemed to be looking far away. "Because sometimes, just because someone says it isn't your fault or that you did what had to be done, doesn't make the hurt stop."

_He's hurting too, he doesn't like to show it, and would rather play the part of disinterested genius, but he cares about people. He's lost people he care for… I can see it in his eyes when he thinks no one is watching. Like right now._ Hikari took a deep breath. "Thank you, Kakashi… I appreciate you trying to make me feel better." She turned her head back towards their destination, as thunder clapped over their heads. "How long until we reach the dessert?" The rain was ruining her hair.

* * *

><p>The gates of Suna were imposing, if not exactly effective. Their large staggered steps looked like they would be pretty easy to jump from level to level, but at least it looked cool. Kakashi pulled her to the right and leaned forward to whisper something. "Try not to cause a diplomatic incident while we are here. Please? If you go 2 for 2 on C-Class missions we won't be allowed to go on them anymore."<p>

"Fine." Hikari sounded a little too disappointed for his liking.

"Just practice the lightning jutsu I've been teaching you, that should keep you busy while I deliver this. Remember, we will be staying at the Desert Flower Hotel." Hikari stuck out her tongue when he turned his back to her. "Saw that."

_Surely they have a training ground here somewhere… it can't all just be sand._

_Can't it?_

_NO, IT CAN'T! How would they make their own food, I might not have paid much attention in desert survival class, but at least I know that agriculture isn't a booming business in sand… wait I have no idea where our hotel is supposed to be. KAKASHI NEVER TOLD ME WHERE IT WAS!_

"What have we got here? A leaf Kunoichi all by her lonesome?" Some guy in weird purple face paint descended from the roof of one of the flat-roofed houses. He had something covered with bandages on his back. His jacket's hood was flipped up to give him the appearance of having cat ears.

_You are here for less than 10 minutes and you've already managed to get yourself in trouble. Simply Amazing._

"Me? Oh, just delivering a message, looking for a training field, trying to find my hotel. Standard shinobi stuff really." She said as she plastered a smile onto her face. _I really don't want to start a diplomatic incident, getting into a fight with a sand shinobi on sand land is probably an incident._

"I am not a fan of foreign shinobi, walking around without proper supervision." He said rather ominously

A blonde haired kunoichi walked from around the sides of one of the other houses. "And I suppose you think of yourself as this "proper supervision" that you are so worried about, Kankuro?" She put an arm around him. "Worried that she is going to try to steal all your little puppet secrets?" She said in a tone dripping with false ominousness.

"Temari! You ruin everything!" the boy named Kankuro said, only mildly upset. "I was going to be all ominous and cool."

She smiled wickedly. "Oh, I am so sorry I messed with your fun."

_I'd feel bad if I interrupted them, their dynamic is humorous. Oh well. _"Excuse me, but I am looking for a training field, would you mind?"

The blond girl turned to her. She smiled again Hikari thought it looked fake, forced. "The name is Temari, and this-" she pointed to the boy behind her. "is Kankuro."

"A pleasure." Hikari said entirely without emotion. "Hikari Hebi."

Temari's smile didn't falter. "A lady of few words, refreshing." She put her oversized fan into the sand. "I'll agree to show you the training field, if you agree to a spar."

Hikari's face twisted into a small grin. "I like those terms."

_Oh yea, it isn't a diplomatic incident if she invites you to fight._

"Excellent, in that case follow me." Her smile never wavered. Hikari couldn't tell for what reason the girl had to act in front of her. If she was trying to make a good first impression, she had already succeeded in her book by making cat-boy over there upset.

* * *

><p>The trio reached what Suna must have referred to as a "training field." To Hikari, it looked like a whole bunch of sand with some small, dry grassy areas and a small pool of water on the West side. It wasn't much to look at, but then again that was usually the case for Suna so it fit.<p>

"Do we have any rules besides don't kill each other?" Hikari said as she started stretching a bit. Her neck ached from activating her curse seal yesterday, and her chakra still hadn't fully recovered. She was fighting at about 2/3 chakra capacity. Not dangerous, but not exactly optimal.

Temari opened up her fan revealing a single purple moon and held it out in front of her. "Nope, but by the time you see the third moon, I'll have won."

Hikari cracked her neck and smiled. "Interesting fan, I'll assume that you use Wind Nature and that you are primarily a mid to long range fighter." Temari's eyes narrowed. "Bet it also means you aren't quite as adept at close range Taijutsu, so I'll make this a bit harder for me. I won't take off my weights till you reveal your third moon."

Kankuro walked into the middle of them. "So I guess that I get to be the one who starts the fight… Yay." He said rather unenthusiastically. "Begin." He said before jumping out of the way of the two kunoichi.

Hikari activated her Sharingan and tossed a handful of senbon at her opponent. Temari batted them out of the way with her wind as she launched several wind blades at Hikari. Hikari dodged out of the way of them, narrowly avoiding one that sailed over her head by mere inches. She charged her opponent, it gave her less time to react to the blades, but it also would force Temari onto the defensive.

Temari was being sure to keep a very specific amount of distance between her and Hikari. Hikari hadn't demonstrated any skills, merely dodging her wind blades and attempting to close the distance. "Wind Style: Wind Cutter Technique!" Temari yelled as she revealed her second moon.

The amount of wind blades that Temari was launching at her had nearly doubled and they were much sharper than they had been mere moments before. One of them grazed Hikari's cheek and cut it open, leaving a small trail of blood. Hikari went through a few hand seals and filled her chest up with fire chakra before expelling six moderately sized fireballs at pretty high speeds at the sand kunoichi. The wind merely added intensity and wildness to the flames, but the blond girl managed to get out of it completely unscathed. Hikari still had some work to do with her fire jutsu, she had a problem aiming with her breath.

The two of them were breathing rather heavily, they weren't tired, but they had expelled a fair bit of chakra, and the running around in the hot sun didn't help with stamina. Hikari wasn't used to the sun being this punishing.

"So, a fire user. Makes using wind jutsu pretty difficult against you, but you only seem to have a few jutsu at most that help you in a mid-range fight." Temari said as she sized up her opponent. She was having fun, genuine fun. No one ever sparred her like this, they were all too afraid of hurting the Kazekage's eldest daughter.

Hikari nodded. "As I expected, Wind. You probably take great pride in keeping your opponents at bay, but you can't stop me if you can't move." Hikari locked eyes with Temari as her Sharingan began to spin, placing her under the effects of the paralysis genjutsu.

Hikari was careful to keep perfect eye contact with the blond girl as she began to close the distance between the two of them. She was about 10 feet away before Temari managed to break the genjutsu and quickly unfolded the entirety of her fan. Hikari quickly pulsed her chakra and the weights collapsed into the sand as the two female powerhouses collided. Hikari cleared the distance almost instantly and began to shut off the tenketsu point in Temari's right arm. Temari finished the swing of her fan and launched Hikari into the air with a veritable sea of wind blades in her wake.

Hikari collapsed onto the ground and slowly got up, she was covered in cuts and abrasions, but it wasn't life threatening. It stung all over though, and she could tell that she was definitely going to be feeling that in the morning.

Temari's right arm hung limply at her side, it tingled and she couldn't seem to get chakra to properly flow through it. "I suppose I yield." Temari said as she used her left hand to close her fan and place it onto her back. "Can't use this fan if I can only use one arm, and you'll simply use your superior speed to outclass me in a Taijutsu battle."

Hikari walked over to the blond and held her arm out in front of her. "Do you mind if I fix it?" Temari merely nodded. Hikari reactivated the tenketsu in the other girls arm. "It's probably going to be a little sore for the next few days."

Hikari tasted demonic chakra in the air. It hadn't slowly approached them it had simply appeared. "Temari, Kankuro, you are a disgrace." A monotone voice to Hikari's left said.

Temari looked frightened, almost downright terrified. Hikari turned her head to see a red haired boy with black eye liner (on closer inspection not black eye liner… yikes), the kanji for love over his left eye, and a gourd on his back. "G-Gaara! What are you doing here? Were you watching the whole time?"

His attentions switched to Hikari. "What is your name?" He delivered the question with the same monotone he had given to Temari's criticism.

"Hikari Hebi of Konohagakure. Mind if I ask you your name?" She didn't know how to interact with him, he didn't seem the type that had many friends.

"I am Garra of the Desert, and I am going to kill you." Perfectly maintained monotone.

"Hardly seems like an effective method at making friends, typically you wait for someone to give you a reason to dislike them before you threaten to end their life." Hikari said with a smile. "I'm pretty likable once you get to know me, surely a handsome boy like yourself knows how to make a better first impression than that."

All three sand shinobi remained perfectly still. Temari and Kankuro because they were almost positive the mouth on Hikari was going to get her killed, and Gaara because no one had ever called him handsome before. In fact, almost no one had ever talked to him without fear in their eyes.

Why was this leaf shinobi different? It didn't make sense, everyone hated him and he hated everyone but himself, but she somehow did not fit the mold. How could she not hate him?

A few seconds of silence followed before Hikari decided she could talk some more. "So, Gaara of the Sand, have I done something that would make you want to kill me? I could understand dislike, because let's be honest I am not everyone's cup of tea, and I am cool with that."

The sand siblings were even more confused at Gaara's lack of killy killy sandy deathy.

"I will kill you to confirm my existence. To prove I am alive." His ability to maintain monotone was honestly very impressive.

"I'd like to think that the fact that you and I are conversing together is enough to prove your existence, I don't make it a habit to talk to things that aren't real." She said as a smile began to wash over her face. "You know, I get the feeling that you and I are more alike than you would expect, Gaara-Kun."

His eyes narrowed slightly at her statement. "You don't know anything about me."

"Maybe, but I can at least make a couple of inferences." She began pacing back and forth as if she was deep in thought. "Ever since you can remember, the citizens have looked upon you with a combination of hate and fear in their eyes, due entirely to circumstances outside of your control, and no matter how hard you tried to get them to like you, they only saw you as a monster. At least, that was my childhood. Does it ring any bells, Gaara of the Sand?"

_She… she knows? She's knows what it's like to be hated by everyone? But how? How can people like Temari and Kankuro accept her so readily if she really is the monster she claims to be? _

"I was lucky enough to have someone who loved me, even if everyone else saw a monster, my protector. Always there for me when I needed something. Did you have that Gaara? Or were you forced to face the world on your own?" Hikari's voice was soft and sad, if she had been forced to face the world without Mamoru she wouldn't know if she would have survived.

_*Sniffle*_

_Mamoru! Are you crying?_

_NO! YOU KNOW I DON'T HAVE TEAR DUCTS! That's ridiculous._

_Oh yea, sure._

"What type of monster are you?" Gaara asked. He sounded like saying the words made him physically hurt.

"I'm the daughter of Konoha's most hated individual, they saw me and were reminded of him every time without fail. The village I love with my whole heart, despises me because of who my father was."

"Then why do you love them?" Gaara was staring at her intently. Temari and Kankuro had never heard Gaara speak this much, typically he would just say "do (blank) or I'll kill you" and then he'd go kill people. They had never seen him converse with anyone before, let alone an outsider.

"Someone I cared for had a dream. A dream of ensuring the safety of the Leaf Village. He died for his dream, so I suppose, it is my way of honoring his memory, so that I'll never forget him." Hikari smiled slightly. "I had almost forgotten about that, wanting to protect the village is almost second nature to me now."

Gaara disappeared into a sand shunshin.

"That is actually one of the better first interactions I've had with a jinchuriki." Hikari said with a smile. "He might not even want to kill me anymore, which is definitely a plus." Hikari turned her attention back to Temari. "Would you mind showing me to my hotel? I have no idea where it is."

* * *

><p>Hikari and Kakashi had been given separate rooms. Hikari suspected he paid for the second room out of his own pocket so that he wouldn't have to go on record as sleeping with a 12 year old girl, but she didn't mind.<p>

Hikari could taste his presence outside her window before she actually heard him. She quietly walked over and opened it. He was sitting on the roof overhanging her window. She could only see his feet dangling over the edge, but it was easy enough to tell it was him.

She exited her window and joined him on the roof. "Any particular reason you decided you wanted to see me? Or am I just that irresistible?" She said with an impish grin.

His gaze never left the stars. "I don't understand you."

"Yea, well I'm pretty complicated sometimes." She fell back on the flat roof her shirt rode up a little and showed her belly, but she was too tired to fix it. "Any reason you can't sleep?"

"I never sleep." He said with his standard voice.

"Huh, I never dream." She didn't exactly know if this was contributing to the conversation or not, but she felt like sprinkling in that little tidbit of information regardless.

"Who did you find that loved you?" His eyes were glued to the stars.

"Mamoru was the first one, he taught me everything I knew about people, and how to speak and read. Then there was Minato, but he died not long after I got to know him. Then there was Sarutobi-Sama, he is a kind and gentle-hearted old man. After that, making friends comes pretty easy, you just need a good catalyst to get you through the door" She held her hand up and pretended to reach for the stars. "I love my village, but I'd do anything to protect my precious people."

"Precious people." He said contemplatively.

"Do you have anyone? Precious to you, I mean." She moved herself back into a more seated position.

"Only myself." He sounded almost bitter, there was definitely bits she was missing here, but she didn't know where she would find them.

"You know, I bet if you cut it out with the killing people to prove you're alive, and started using your strength to protect the village, people will find you out. I met some of my closest friends on accident."

He looked at her very confused.

"I'll give you some examples if you want them." He merely shook his head. "Let's see, I became friends with Hinata when I tried to make her stop crying. I became friends with Neji after I mistook him for a female. I became friends with Lee after I told him he was weak. I became friends with Sasuke after kicking him into a wall. I became friends with Naruto after throwing a kunai at him… ON SECOND THOUGHT! I might not be the best example you should follow." She said as she burst into laughter. "How about you try smiling a little? That might help diminish your intimidating persona."

IT DIDN'T HIS SMILE WAS THE TYPE OF THING THAT SPAWNS NIGHTMARES IN SMALL CHILDREN

"Okay, well. Smiling isn't for everyone. How about we try something small?" He turned his head back to the stars. "Can you think of someone that you know?"

He shrugged.

"Gaara, I'm trying to be a buddy over here, and get you some friends." _In the land of the socially retarded the least maladjusted is queen._

_You're welcome, I had a hand in that._

_Yea, yea. Pat yourself on the back later. I've got a jinchuriki to teach to not murder._

"Does that make you, a precious person?" Gaara asked as he continued to look up at the sky.

"Sure, I'll be one of your precious people Gaara, but I am going to be leaving for Konoha pretty soon. So I am going to have to get you some secondary special people to keep you company while your favorite is gone." She said with a silly smile.

He turned his attention back to her. "How?"

"Why not start off with Temari and Kankuro? We walk up, talk to them for a moment, you apologize if you ever threatened to kill them. Then we group hug. WAM BAM WE DONE!" She said excitedly. She clapped her hand together to emphasize her point. The sudden exultation had surprised Gaara significantly.

Kakashi stuck his head out of his window. "Hikari! What are you doing!? It's 3 in the morning, you are making a huge racket!" He did the whisper scream thing that people did when they tried to yell at you, but wanted to do it discreetly.

"Sorry Kakashi-Sensei. I was talking to a friend." Hikari said as Kakashi closed his window and returned to his bed. She turned back to Gaara. "Meet me at the training field tomorrow morning, then we'll go out and find Kankuro and Temari. You aren't a bad guy, you just need a little push in the right direction." The two of them both stood, she decided that she would go for the hug, it might seem a little forward, but he seemed like the kind of person who could really use one.

She leaned forward and wrapped him in him in her arms. Sand suddenly rose up between the two of them and blocked all the points of contact, but she still managed to hold him for a second. "Bye, Gaara-Kun!" She said as she returned to her bedroom and shut her window.

_I must say he is one of the most agreeable sociopaths I've ever had the pleasure of speaking to._

_I DID ALL THE TALKING MAMORU!_

* * *

><p>Secondary Author's Note:<p>

BOOM CH 10! I told you I'd get it out before New Year's... well I said I'd try to. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it is here that we are really going to start to see some of the AU-ness start to bubble up. It wasnt happening before, because Hikari's sphere of influence is relatively small, she regularly speaks to like 4 other people her age, and the rest are her Sensei and Hokage. A changed Gaara and orochimaru means a changed chunin exam which means a changed *shot for trying to give out spoilers*


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note:

So, I found out today that there is another Naruto fanfiction called "Eyes of the Predator" that is a crossover between Naruto and Predator. I haven't read it, but it made me sad because I thought I was being original when I came up with the title, but his story has been out longer than mine. It hasn't been updated in like ½ a year, so I think I'm in the clear.

Anyway, thanks for reading, I was thinking fairly hard about who I wanted to pair Hikari up with, and there are just so many good options, even not including Sasuke and Naruto. There is Neji (obviously), Gaara, Itachi (potentially I don't know if I want to go that direction with the story yet, but I might), Hinata, and a couple others. I wanna know what y'all think. Should I keep going the Neji route? Or do you think that she'd mesh better with other characters? (I'll be honest, I didn't expect Hikari and Gaara to become friends as quickly as they did until I started writing and researching more on Gaara's personality and how he would respond to Hikari's actions)

In the end, I am doing this for you guys as much as I am writing for myself, so I am at a crossroads. What you guys want to see is what I'll give you (within reason… pretty much just the pairing actually). What I do I do for you.

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 11

Hikari was in an ocean of nothingness, floating in the darkness with no sense of direction. She felt her feet hit solid ground and suddenly she felt gravity again. She fell to the ground stumbling from the unexpected phenomenon. She stood to begin discovering more about the darkness she found herself in, but her feet were stuck to the ground by some unknown, unyielding adhesive.

_You couldn't save them._

3 spotlights appeared in front of her, each containing a different girl.

_Didn't even try._

The girls looked up at her with tears in their eyes, they were yelling, screaming something, but she couldn't hear them. Couldn't move. She could only watch. Watch as three identical pale hands grabbed their hair and pulled back their head, exposing their necks. Watch as the girls continued yelling and crying as three identical tanto were raised to their necks. Watch as the blades cut into their flesh, spilling their blood in an ever increasing pool.

_Punished slaughter with slaughter._

21 spotlights popped into being around her, each one containing a different bandit from that night. They were all silently screaming once again. Watch as once again, the identical pale hands pale hands pulled back the bandits' heads and slit their throats. Torrents of blood followed the execution, pooling around them.

_And reveled in their suffering._

The corpses were engulfed in flame and Hikari saw 23 identical copies of herself standing behind the burning corpses. Bloody tanto in hand, and a smile on each of her faces. A final spotlight appeared feet in front of her. The bandit leader standing directly in front of her. She could hear his screams, hear him ask for forgiveness, hear him beg for mercy.

She did not know forgiveness, she would not show him mercy. She did not end his life before giving him to the flames. His pain-wracked screams of agony filled her mind, and he writhed as the flames ate away at his flesh, before he was reduced to dust.

_You are the monster they think you are._

A mirror appeared in front of her. A perfect image of Orochimaru was staring back at her. "I don't need to corrupt you into becoming like me… You've done it on your own. I'm so proud of my daughter." Her reflection said as he licked his lips.

"NO!" Hikari screamed as she punched the glass, shattering the mirror into tiny fragments that were blown away by an invisible wind. Her hand was dripping with blood.

_If not that, then who are you?_

Hikari was surrounded by four images of herself. One of her was being a stoic, silent, executioner. Another was being a friendly, kind friend. Another was a cackling, bloodthirsty maniac. The last was a giggling flirt.

_You've worn so many masks you don't even know which one is your real face._

Hikari never dreamed dreams, only nightmares.

* * *

><p>Hikari woke up with a fine layer of sweat. She was breathing heavily and felt scared and alone, but couldn't remember why. Hikari didn't dream, so that was out of the question.<p>

It was morning and she felt terrible. She had been using her Sharingan far too much in the last week and her eyes ached. It hurt to look at things, especially if those things were bright, annoying, and giving her a headache… so everything. She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder starting from her should and then exploding outward. Combine this with her garden variety soreness she had gotten from training, and the tender scratches she had all over her from Temari's wind jutsu, and it was shaping up to be quite the beautiful morning.

_I told you I'd feel that in the morning._

_You did, I believed you. You've been going pretty hard, I'm actually surprised you didn't crash earlier._

_Yea, well I don't have time to wallow in misery. I need to help Gaara become less… murdery_

_A decent enough adjective._

Hikari unenthusiastically tossed her covers off of her, and blindly walked her way to the bathroom in her hotel. Kakashi had said something about a timer on the showers due to Suna's drought. It made sense, droughts happen in a desert. She quickly showered and washed the sand out of her hair and from behind her ears, it was probably going to get all sandy again anyway, but Hikari liked feeling clean when she woke up.

She quickly pulled on her clothes and slowly opened her eyes to look into the mirror. The brightness of her bathroom was giving her a headache, but she decided she'd ignore it for the time being. She strained to see in the mirror and saw that some of the blood vessels in her eyes had broken. The whites of her eyes completely covered in red.

If she wasn't so worried about the fact that her eyes were filed with blood she would say she looked pretty cool. She tried to activate her Sharingan, but that made the dull ache turn into constant sharp pain. She immediately deactivated her Kekkei Genkai.

She quickly ran out of her room to Kakashi's door, and began knocking on it furiously.

"I'm here, what do you want?" He said as he lazily opened his door. He looked down and noticed Hikari's eyes were filled with blood. He quickly leaned over and inspected her eyes more closely. "There isn't any bruising around the eye to suggest you got it from a physical altercation. If I'd have to guess, it is probably from you using your Sharingan too much recently. You rely too heavily on the Sharingan, it puts a lot of strain on your eyes, and it isn't advanced enough for you to use it regularly without much drain. From now on, no more Sharingan when you and I practice, it is to be used as a last resort measure, when fighting a skilled opponent in a battle to the death." Kakashi said, his tone final.

"How do you know so much about the Sharingan? You aren't an Uchiha, you can't be. Sasuke said he and I were the last ones." Hikari was genuinely confused as to how her one-eyed teacher was so knowledgeable about a nearly extinct Kekkei Genkai.

"Yea, well…" He paused as he tried to come up with a plausible lie. He didn't want to talk about…them. The memories were too painful. He gave her an eye smile before continuing. "I have my own Sharingan." He lifted up his Hitaite to reveal his own Sharingan as well as a sizable scar that traveled down the side of his face disappearing behind the mask.

"Well, aren't you full of surprises? Any other incredibly important information about yourself that you're keeping from me?" She added with fake urgency. "YOU'RE NATURAL HAIR COLOR IS SILVER RIGHT?" She covered her face in faux disappointment. "I don't know if I can take any more of these lies!"

"Not how I guessed you would react… but no." He returned his headband over his Sharingan eye. "The blood should clear up in about four to seven days. Just don't strain it and you'll be fine." He paused for a moment before continuing. "What is it with you and jinchuriki? You seem to be able to find them with unnerving consistency."

"I don't know, I can just kinda… taste their chakra."

Kakashi looked dumbfounded. "I didn't realize chakra had a taste. Do I taste like anything in particular?" He felt awkward asking a 12 year old that question.

"It's only demon chakra… I DON'T JUST GO AROUND TASTING PEOPLE KAKASHI!" She yelled and raised a fist up in joking anger.

"Jeez, you inherited Anko's violent streak… Let's hope you didn't inherit her stylistic choices. I wouldn't want my apprentice to be running around in the near-nude." He said as he closed the door in her face. "We can leave tomorrow, that'll give you plenty of time to hang out with your new Suna-boy-toy and still get back to Konoha in time for your birthday party Gai and Lee are throwing." He said from behind his now locked door. Hikari didn't want to imagine what kind of "party" those two would throw… it'd probably involve training.

Hikari would have broken down the door and punched Kakashi, but she was blushing too furiously and didn't want to pay for a new door. "I don't have boy-toys!" She unintentionally squeaked as she yelled at him, furthering her embarrassment. She groaned in frustration before marching off to the training fields. She'd get Kakashi for this somehow.

Hikari had barely been at the training field for a minute before Gaara shunshined in front of her. "Hello." His voice was the same monotone it almost always was. "What happened to your eyes?" This time the monotone was laced with a touch of concern, only a little though.

"Oh, I've been straining my eyes a bit, so it caused a blood vessel in my eyes to break. It should heal up in about a week." She added with a smile. "How is your morning?"

He shrugged. It wasn't much of a shrug, he kinda just lifted his shoulders a minuscule amount before he began walking.

"So, do you know where Kankuro-Kun and Temari-San are?" She rubbed her neck, trying to massage away the sharp pain her curse mark was giving her again. "I still don't know my way around the city." She said with a laugh.

He nodded as he continued walking. She was content to walk in silence, Suna didn't seem to be particularly busy at the moment. Either the city was in an economic downturn, or people closed up shop when they thought the resident demon was on his way… It could have actually been both now that she thought about it.

"Hey Gaara, I had a question about your sand." The sand shinobi didn't say anything, and his expression didn't change in the slightest. "When I tried to hug you, it got in the way, kind of like a shield or something… Does it always do that or are you just not big into hugging?"

He stopped walking for a second. "Both." He continued at the exact same pace he moved at before.

"Oh, you shouldn't have told me that. Now that I know you don't like hugs I'm going to try even harder!" She tried to put an arm around his slightly shorter frame, but the sand kept her from actual contact. "Come on, Gaara-Kun! We have shinobi to befriend." She started running forward with her arm draped around a small sand shell, forcing him to run to keep up with her.

The corners of his lips turned up into a small smile as his first precious person dragged him around Suna trying to help him make new friends.

* * *

><p>Temari and Kankuro were sitting on a small couch in their house. Kankuro was doing something with one of his puppets while Temari was thinking up ways to fluster her younger brother. It's what they typically did when they weren't on missions. It was boring, but it was way too damn hot outside to warrant doing much else.<p>

Suddenly the door burst open and in ran Hikari dragging Gaara behind her. The sand sibling looked at Hikari with obvious shock written on their faces. Nobody dragged Gaara… Nobody even got close to touching Gaara! Gaara looked slightly out of breath. GAARA DIDN'T RUN EITHER! WHO WAS THIS CHICK?!

Hikari held out her hands as if she was presenting something. "Gaara has something he would like to say to the two of you." She said with a comically large smile.

"I am sorry I threatened to kill you." He said with standard monotone.

"Gaara… There is more to your speech than that." Hikari said in a chastising sort of tone.

NOBODY CHASTISED GAARA! HOW WAS SHE NOT A CORPSE!

"It was wrong of me to threaten the life of a comrade. I should only kill those who threaten my village or my precious people, and I would like you to be some of my precious people." Talking that much seemed to put a strain on him. He turned his head slightly to Hikari who gave him a double thumbs up and shook her head up and down, telling him he had done a good job.

Temari stuttered for a second. "Gaara… o-of course we'll be your precious people. We are family after all." Temari stood up and walked over to her youngest sibling. With some trepidation at first, but with growing confidence. "Of course you are precious to us."

She reached out to Gaara for a hug but he covered himself in a small cocoon. "No hugs." He said from inside his sand cocoon.

"Temari and I are going to give you a hug one of these days, Gaara! It'll be when you least expect it!" Hikari yelled.

Kankuro was still stunned at the display in front of him. This entire interaction was all very un-Gaara-y. He checked to make sure he wasn't under some sort of genjutsu before he added his two cents. "You know, if we get to be your precious people, it's only fair that we get an inaugural group hug." Kankuro didn't much care for hugs either, but if Gaara was going to be getting a group hug anyway then he wanted in on that.

Sand dropped away from the small sphere he had encased himself in to reveal his head. He looked to Kankuro. "Is that really how it works?" His tone was the same bored monotone.

"Yep, a physical affirmation of mutual respect and understanding. As well as a hallmark of camaraderie." Temari bs-ed on the spot. Hikari was pretty impressed with the well thought out ruse, a hug typically did most of those things, but it wasn't usually something that you'd use to seal a friendship contract… Or maybe it was, she'd never made a friendship contract before.

Gaara grudgingly removed his sand sphere from around him and put it back in his gourd. Before frowning and gradually opening up both of his arms. Temari and Hikari excitedly pulled Gaara into a big hug before Kankuro's larger frame enveloped all of them.

At that moment the door opened and in walked someone nobody was not expecting to see.

* * *

><p>The Kazekage was returning to his home. He had a mission that he needed completed and he valued the abilities of his children to accomplish it discreetly. Temari and Kankuro would be in the house, and Gaara would be out terrifying the village somewhere.<p>

Gaara was a failed experiment. He was a broken person and he didn't have control over Shukaku which made him a danger to the village, but the sand also made him impossible to be disposed of. He wasn't proud of what he had done to his son, but it was for the good of the village, and the Shukaku was too valuable an asset to leave unused.

He opened the door to speak to Temari and Kankuro about the mission he had for them. Needless to say, he was surprised when he saw his two children and an unknown third shinobi smothering his youngest son in their vice like grip. How had they gotten within his sand shield? Why wasn't he squishing them like bugs with his sand?

When his two eldest children saw him enter the room, they quickly released Gaara from their grasp. The only one who was still holding onto him was some leaf shinobi he had never seen before. She had to be incredibly skilled to debilitate Gaara's sand shield. She must have some powerful ninjutsu in order to overpower a jinchuriki. Had the leaf created a counter to one of the sand's strongest weapons?

"So… I guess the group hug is over?" The pale girl with blood filled eyes asked as she looked up to see the Kazekage standing in front of her and her three new friends. She quickly released herself from Gaara as well when she realized who it was standing in front of her.

Gaara disappeared in a sand shuninshin.

_I am missing something very important here._ "Temari, report." He said with all the authority of his office.

"Hai, Kazekage-Sama. Hikari-Chan here brought in Gaara-kun a few minutes ago. He informed us that he was sorry that he had threatened to kill us and that he would reserve his killings for enemies of Suna."

_Yep. I am definitely missing something very valuable here. _"Leaf shinobi, who are you and why are you in my house?"

"OH! I-uh… I didn't know this was your house Kazekage-Sama, I apologize." She said before bowing her head slightly. "My name is Hikari Hebi of the Village hidden in the Leaves. I was sent here with Kakashi Hatake in order to deliver a scroll to you. When I was given leave to train, I met Temari and Kankuro. Temari and I sparred, and then Gaara showed up. We got to talking, and we realized that we weren't too different from each other. So we became friends when he came to visit me at my hotel last night." Temari's eyes widened and she blushed at what that sounded like, she was pretty certain that Hikari meant that in the most innocent way possible, but the thought still crossed her mind.

"Why were you in a group hug with my children?" He paused before he directed the next question at his children. "Why were you hugging?"

"It was a physical affirmation of mutual respect and understanding. As well as a hallmark of camaraderie." Kankuro quoted from before while avoiding direct eye contact.

_This girl is interesting, very interesting. She had managed to quell the beast that Gaara had been, and she had managed to do it in a single day. What would a week with her do to him? A month? _The Kazekage put his hands behind his back. "Interesting." Was all he said as his mind began to work in overdrive. If she could turn Gaara relatively stable, then he would become monumentally more valuable to Suna as an asset.

He simply turned around and left without saying another word.

"So… is he always like that?" Hikari asked after a solid minute of silence following the Kazekage's absence. Their interactions had been rather robotic, and lacking familiarity, especially considering he had called them his children…. WAIT A SECOND! "YOU GUYS ARE THE KAZEKAGE'S KIDS?! Kakashi's one rule, 'don't create an international incident' and I did it again! This makes me two for two! I CAN'T GO BACK TO D-RANK MISSIONS, THEY ARE SO BORING!" Hikari put her hands to her faced and dragged them across her cheeks.

Kankuro and Temari were rightfully confused. "Don't create an international incident has to be a rule for you?" Temari asked. "Isn't that typically standard procedure?"

"You'd be surprised at how often trouble finds me." Hikari said rather dejectedly.

* * *

><p>The next morning Hikari was standing outside of the gates, she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Gaara, Kankuro, or Temari. She hadn't seen them after her unintentional visit to their house. She wanted to say farewell before she left, but it looked like she wouldn't get the chance.<p>

She turned her back to the entryway of the city, and began leaving with Kakashi.

"About time you showed up, we've been waiting for an hour." Temari said as the two Konoha-nin made it to the other side of the city walls. "We have a message to deliver to Konoha, and we are to act as your personal escorts." The blond haired girl said with a smile.

Gaara and Kankuro were leaning on either side of the wall. "Lucky us." Kankuro said unenthusiastically. Temari hit him over the head. "Ow! Temari! You're ruining my cool!"

Hikari burst into laughter. "I am quite sorry that we've been keeping you waiting, Kakashi-Sensei doesn't ever leave for missions till noon." She said as she pointed to her sensei.

"Excuse me. That's not why we are running late. You were the one running all over Sunagakure so that you could say goodbye to your friends before we left." He brought his thumb and forefinger millimeters apart. "I promise, she was this close to crying."

"I WAS NOT KAKASHI!" She yelled as she sprinted after the jonin who had broken off into a run after revealing her little secret. "GET BACK HERE! YOU'LL HAVE TO SLEEP EVENTUALLY!"

"If you kill me you can't learn fuinjutsu!" He yelled back to her.

"TOTALLY WORTH IT!"

The three sand sibling stared as the two leaf shinobi began disappearing into this distance. Garra slowly began walking after them. "If this demonstrates Konoha's typical shinobi this is going to be very interesting."

Temari and Kankuro began chuckling as they began following Gaara's lead.

* * *

><p>They made it back to Konoha on exactly Hikari's birthday, getting into the town at around noon. Hikari was on high alert, she didn't know what Gai and Lee had planned, but it probably involved a 2v2 against their assorted "Eternal Rivals." She didn't want her first few minutes back in the village to be marred by a roundhouse kick to the face.<p>

Kakashi began walking towards the Hokage Tower. "We should probably visit the Hokage first, we should file our report and then let our escorts deliver their message." He said as he led the way. "This your first time in Konoha?" He asked as he looked behind him to see the Sand shinobi looking back and forth.

"It's quite…" Temari started not knowing how to finish her sentence.

"Green." Gaara said as he closed his eyes for a few seconds. "I prefer sand."

"Yea, but green doesn't get stuck in your pants when you train." Hikari said as she turned around. "I like sand aesthetically, but it's annoying to go for runs in."

"Do you have sand?" Gaara asked, it was the most hopeful Hikari had ever heard him, but that really just meant that there was a very slight variation in his usual monotone.

"We'll find some." Hikari said as she gave a little laugh.

The five of them entered the Hokage Tower and walked up to the group of three individuals who functioned as secretaries, errand boys, and protection if needed. "Team Kakashi with a report from our mission to Sunagakure. We also have a… would you call yourselves a delegation?" Kakashi asked to the sand shinobi behind him. They just shrugged with Kankuro saying something along the lines of 'sure'. "We'll call them a delegation from Suna, they have a message for Hokage-Sama."

* * *

><p>Sarutobi was dealing with his usual mountainous pile of paperwork. Hikari was expected back sometime today, he hoped. He had a present he wanted to give to her. He let himself slip into the happy memories he had of the past. Minato, his wife, his students, people who had long ago passed from the world but could be alive and well in his memory. He had been doing it much more lately. Something about living a few moments in the past helped to keep him focused on protecting his people's future. Though coming back to the present often made his heart ache for everyone who had fallen.<p>

Kakashi and Hikari entered his office followed by three sand shinobi. _Uh-oh. Those are the Kazekage's children, he wouldn't send them to do something unless it was of utmost importance… _"Hikari… did you cause another diplomatic incident?" There was a twinge of humor to his voice, but they could tell he had a modicum of seriousness to his tone as well.

"I don't think so." She said. She really wasn't sure if being caught in a group hug with the Kazekage's children counted as a diplomatic incident, but she didn't know much about Suna culture, so it very well could have been a scandalous ordeal.

"We delivered the message as per your request. We did encounter a group of 22 bandits along the way. Incurring 22 fatalities and receiving none." Kakashi said trying to move things along, he had Icha Icha he needed to catch up on. It'd been a while since he had gotten to read because Hikari had been hounding him about seals the entire way home.

"You were attacked?" Sarutobi was worried. He had been comfortable giving the mission to a two person team because the borderlands between The Land of Fire and Wind were stable and usually very safe.

"Well… we kinda did the attacking." Kakashi said trying to avoid having to explain everything.

"You'll give me a full written report on the event, Kakashi. Don't skimp on the details this time, and try to make your writing less undecipherable chicken scratch." Sarutobi said with finality.

Kakashi looked down dejectedly, it'd be a while before he would be able to read his book. "Hai, Hokage-Sama." He said sadly.

Sarutobi turned his attention to the sand shinobi. "You have a message for me from your father?" Temari pulled out a scroll from behind her back and placed it in front of him. He checked the scroll quickly for anything out of the ordinary. He doubted the Kazekage would try to kill him with something as simple as an explosive scroll, but it paid to be cautious.

He opened it up and read over it for a moment. Then stared at the paper for a few minutes in complete shock. _This… this is everything I've worked for between our two nations since the end of the last Shinobi World War, and then some. Why would he agree to our terms now? We haven't been pressuring them to do so, everything is fine with the status quo… What did Hikari do?_

Sarutobi remembered that there were shinobi in front of him, so he couldn't jump up and do a little jig, but he did let a sizable smile crawl across his face. "So, the Kazekage has decided to dissolve our peace treaty." Temari and Kankuro were visibly on edge. If that was the case then they were deep into enemy territory. Why would their father send them here to become political prisoners? "And replace it with an alliance in its stead." The tension in the room dissipated as quickly as it had come. "As a sign of goodwill, he has appointed Temari-chan as a long-term diplomatic councilor to intercede on any meeting on Suna's behalf." Temari beamed at this, she loved playing politics, and attempting to outmaneuver an opponent. "He has also asked that Gaara-Kun and Hikari-Chan be placed on a team. In order to be a physical representation of Suna's and Konoha's mutual partnership."

He continued reading about an exchange of medical information and know how in which Suna would give Konoha access to some of their poisons, and in exchange for some of Konoha's superior medic-nin would go to Suna for a few months in order to assist in training and updating their medical practices. Kankuro would function as a liaison for any of the questions they had regarding poison manufacturing, he might not know how to make antidotes, but poisons were one of his specialties. "I will need to speak to the council before I can agree to this alliance, of course, but I see no problem in putting you and Gaara on a probationary team while I find a third member to place on your genin team."

Hikari looked ecstatic. Sarutobi had forgotten that she had never had a team before; it was always just her and her Sensei. While that did allow her to be the singular focus of a jonin-level ninja, it did tend to create ninja who were individually strong, but lacked knowledge of how to coordinate with others. "You are dismissed, I will have an ANBU escort you to your temporary living quarters while we set up some more permanent living arrangements."

"Will there be sand?" Gaara was pretty adamant about having sand around.

"There is an apartment complex that is a short walking distance from where we have our shinobi do their desert survival training." Sarutobi offered.

"That will suffice." Gaara returned to his regular monotone as he began walking out the door.

"Hikari." Sarutobi said as she began to turn around as well. "If memory serves, today is your birthday is it not?" She turned back to him and nodded. "In that case I have a D-rank mission for you, and any friends you wish to bring." Hikari looked confused as he placed a manila folder on his desk. "Gai and Lee came here earlier today and requested you for a mission. You will be meeting them at the Korean Barbeque at 6 at which time they will celebrate your birthday."

"You didn't tell us it was your birthday." Temari said excitedly as she grabbed Hikari around the neck playfully. "We haven't even gotten you a present!"

"Its fine, birthdays are just a celebration of being alive for another year, they aren't all that special." Hikari insisted.

"Easy for you to say, but we are going to get you something anyway!" Temari grabbed Kankuro by the neck of his cat-jacket and pulled him out the door after Gaara.

"She doesn't know where the shopping district or the restaurant is." Kakashi said rather bored. "I guess my present will be making sure she doesn't get lost." He disappeared in a leaf shunshin.

"I have a present for you as well Hikari." Sarutobi said as he reached into his desk.

Hikari touched her hand to the Kunai pouch he had given her years ago, it was one of her most prized possessions. "You didn't have to get me something Hokage-Sama. You've given me my nindo, a dream to strive for, and let's not forget my amazing kunai pouch." She said with a smile.

Sarutobi smiled again. "Perhaps, but I have noticed that you are lacking in something." He had Hikari's undivided attention. "You tend to be… clumsy when it comes to handling kunai." Hikari snorted, he was overestimating her ability with kunai. She was a bumbling idiot when it came to using them in close quarters, and her aim with them was pretty sub-par. She preferred senbon. "So, I got you this." He pulled out a single-edged straight blade that was 10 inches in length. The hilt of the blade had a series of small white diamond patterns going up either side. "Your spear is good for keeping opponents at bay, but it's always good to have a backup if things get hairy." He placed it on his desk.

Hikari picked up the blade to find it was surprisingly light. Barely a pound of weight. She began going through some of the few exercises for blade weapons that she actually knew to get a feel for the blade. It was well-balanced, and the single-blade cut through the air quickly and devastatingly. "It is a spectacular blade, Hokage-Sama." He handed her the sheath and she strapped the blade and sheath onto her left hip. She would need to practice properly wielding the small blade, but she liked learning new things.

"I would like to make a suggestion for our third teammate, Hokage-Sama." He looked a little surprised, but nodded for her to continue. I would like to request that Hinata Hyuga be selected for the third person on our team. I believe that her abilities would make her an excellent addition to our assorted skillsets, and I already have a history with the girl."

Sarutobi sat there for a moment. "She has not yet graduated from the Academy, she isn't even technically a member of our shinobi forces."

"Maybe." Hikari countered. "But she is ready to be. I've been training with her for a long time, and her standing in the Academy is not representative of her actual ability. She stays at the middle of the pack because she does not want to draw attention to herself, but I can think of a way to show you she's ready."

* * *

><p>Hinata was practicing her Taijutsu in the most secluded Academy training area she could find. She didn't like it when people looked at her. She preferred to keep to herself, avoid others at all cost, and only speak if it was absolutely necessary. Her mumbling stutter was embarrassing, which made her stutter more which caused more embarrassment. It was a vicious cycle.<p>

But somebody managed to find her anyway, despite all of her precautions.

Hikari managed to almost appear on top of the post Hinata was practicing on. "How is my little Kohai? You been practicing all those Academy jutsu I've been showing you over the years?"

"Hai, Sempai!" Hinata looked up at her. "Which one do you want to know?" (A/N: apparently, it is pronounced Sempai, while it is written Senpai. So that's what I'm gonna do)

"I'd like to see all of them. Back to back. Then walk up that tree with just your chakra." Hikari said with a smile.

"Why?" Hinata asked very confused by her Senpai's sudden request.

"I want to make sure you've been taking your training seriously, of course! 'A ninja must always be prepared,' I'm pretty sure that's a rule." Hikari had a habit of just saying general sayings and telling people those were rules, it didn't help that Hikari was terrible with sayings.

Hinata used the substitution jutsu to replace herself with a log. Created two clones of herself, and changed each of them with henge. One became Hikari, the real Hinata became the hokage, and the final clone became Iruka.

"Nicely done. Now for the tree climbing, followed by a quick spar. Then, we can head off to the Korean place for a birthday dinner." Hikari said as Hinata started walking up the trees.

"Whose birthday is it?" Hinata asked. Hikari had never told Hinata when her birthday was, she didn't think birthdays were particularly big deals either.

"It's not important." Hikari sat on Hinata's practice log. "You ready for the spar?" Hinata nodded her head from atop the tree. "Do you remember what I'd do if I find out you deliberately chose not to exploit a weakness?"

Hinata's memory flashed with being chased around by a very handsy Anko and blushed violently. "Hai, Sempai."

The two of them stood across from each other. Hikari's eyes hadn't finished healing yet, so she wasn't comfortable using the Sharingan unless it was absolutely necessary. Hinata's eyes however, were fine. They stood in identical poses, both choosing to use their Gentle Fist Technique.

Hinata ran forward with a feint, forcing Hikari to dodge right and block the true blow that Hinata was going to use to debilitate her leg. The two of them danced across the training area, Hikari using her superior flexibility from her serpent style Taijutsu to avoid Hinata's blows, but not able to land anything more than a graze of her own.

That damn fluffy jacket Hinata wore didn't make it any easier on Hikari's Byakugan-less eyes. It helped to conceal where her true tenketsu actually were by making it look like she was bigger than she actually was. Hinata's right hand brushed inches away from Hikari's neck as Hikari pushed herself into Hinata's guard, and used her superior positioning to do a single palmed strike to Hinata's sternum. Repaid by Hinata sending a sizable pulse chakra into Hikari's stomach with her left hand.

The two impact landed within moments of each other, and sent to two girls flying apart. They both landed hard. Hinata had the wind knocked out of her, but Hikari had missed the tenketsu cluster she had been aiming for by millimeters at most. Hikari hadn't been quite as lucky.

Her stomach felt like it was in a state of being pulled apart and then haphazardly being thrown back together again. She quickly sent her own chakra pulse into her stomach in an attempt to reopen her tenketsu. The painful sensation stopped, but it was still sore.

Hinata got to her feet and looked over at the now kneeling Hikari. Hikari looked at her and smirked. _It's never good when Hikari does that. It means I've missed something important. _Hikari suddenly lifted up what she seemed to be holding to her stomach, letting a small piece of wire reflect off the light. "Lightning Style: Electric Binding!" Hikari shouted as she filled the wire with electric current.

Typically, the jutsu has enough kick to deliver a non-lethal burst of electricity that's used to temporarily debilitate fleeing ninjas. It doesn't have to be used through a physical medium other than air. Of course, Hikari was pretty new to the jutsu so she was honestly excited when the wire actually transferred any electricity at all. Hinata felt a small shock before disentangling herself from the wires.

"The first punch is always a fake." Hinata quoted from the lazy boy in her class. "You were using our close quarters fight to drape wires over me, forcing me to keep my attention on your strikes, while you were really prepping for a jutsu."

Hikari nodded. "But was it all I did?"

"No, you wouldn't take a hit that large for a jutsu you didn't know would work. You'd have a backup plan. Which means you anticipated us having this exchange, but for what purpose." Hinata's eyes began to dart around her surroundings as her mind began to work in overdrive. _No other wires that are visible to the Byakugan. She didn't summon any serpents. She hasn't thrown any weapons… Why hasn't she thrown any weapons? She knows the Byakugan is almost exclusively a close range jutsu, but she's a master at throwing senbon. So, where were the senbon? _

Hinata ducked as three senbon pierced the air that Hikari had occupied moments before. "That was a dirty trick." Hinata said as she continued evading the volleys of senbon Hikari were launching at her. "Getting me to focus on my environment while you palmed some senbon from your weapons pouch."

"Sometimes the second punch is a fake too." Hikari said as she continued her assault. Hinata hid herself behind a tree as a set of senbon 'thunked' moments after she had arrived safely.

Hikari seemingly appeared in front of Hinata and stuck her dead center, only to hear her hand connect with wood as her hand passed inside of Hinata. She felt Hinata's hand touch the back of her neck. "Looks like I win this round sempai."

"Not bad, looks like you can beat me when I am not using my Sharingan and I keep my weights. Wouldn't had fallen for the clone trick if I had activated my Sharingan. You have improved significantly… looks like I'm going to have to tell Anko you're off limits for now." Hikari said with a wry smile.

"Excellently done, Hinata-Chan." Sarutobi said as he disabled his Chameleon Genjutsu a few yards to their left. He tossed her something. "Looks like you passed Hikari's little test." Hinata 'eeped' as she caught the piece of cloth that had been thrown at her. "I didn't even know you could speak without stuttering." He said with a smile.

"I-I-I-uh..." Hinata was blushing as she stuttered furiously in the Hokage's presence.

Hikari put an arm over Hinata;s shoulders as she swayed the both of them back and forth. "Congratulations my little Kohai! You've graduated! Welcome to the Team!"

Hinata looked down to see that she was holding her Hitaite… HER HITAITE! This was hers, she was a ninja now, this was her test and she had passed. Which meant the Hokage had seen and heard everything.

She started hyperventilating and passed out.

"I'll… I'll work on that." Hikari said as she smiled to the Hokage who just chuckled as he walked back to his office. He had a lot of paperwork he needed to get done.

* * *

><p>Author's Note:<p>

I'm going to be changing the summary up a little bit, mostly because when I wrote the summary, most of this was just a concept, and now that I'm fleshing out the story a lot more I'm just like "That is really vague." SO I'M IMPROVING IT!


	12. Chapter 12

Authors Note:

So, the reason this one has been taking a little bit longer to get out is because I looked at my general outline I had and just went. "Well, this isn't going to work because it would affect the time line so that… (2 hours pass) THE TIMELINE IS SO INTERTWINING, THAT MAKING THE CHANGES I'VE MADE CHANGES EVERYTHING!" So I had to essentially create an entirely new outline that still takes the plot where I want it to go, without messing everything up. It is still a different Narutoverse, but that is the way (uh-huh uh-huh) I like it! In addition to this I went on vacation with my family for a few days which meant that I had essentially 0 time to do my writing, but I should be able to do more now (applause… ok it's more like 3 people clapping but I'll take it)!

Hope you enjoy the latest chapter! :D

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 12

Sarutobi was partaking in a small smoke break after the events that transpired outside the Academy. For all intents and purposes Hinata had always struck his as quiet and average (of course by Hyuga standards that meant she was downright mediocre to them). However, the strength and tenacity she had shown while fighting Hikari had really opened his eyes. Even in Hikari's weakened state she was still better than almost all of the other first year genin he'd seen in years, which meant Hinata was definitely someone he would have to watch.

He was interrupted in his reverie by a knock at his door. _Never a moment of peace around here. _He thought as he took another drag of his smoke before telling his not-so-welcome guest to enter. A familiar silver-haired cycloptic jonin made his way into Sarutobi's office. "I wasn't expecting to see you, I doubt that you've even started the report yet, so it can't be about that." Sarutobi chuckled as he placed his pipe back into his mouth.

Kakashi smirked a little before replying to his superior. "No, Hokage-Sama, I haven't." His expression then became very serious. "I have something that I need to talk to you about Hikari that has me slightly worried, that I wasn't able to tell you while she was here." He paused before the Hokage gestured for him to continue. "She killed 22 bandits last mission and didn't even bat an eye."

The Hokage seemed mildly surprised (which was somewhat startling to the jonin, the Hokage was usually very controlled, which meant this hit him harder than Kakashi realized it would). "So, you are telling me that a single genin, who has until last mission only experienced death once, was capable of killing 22 fully grown men with the same amount of emotion she would exhibit if she were just practicing on some field dummies?" Sarutobi asked incredulously.

"No… She was angry… VERY angry." He replied as he saw the Hokage stiffen. "She saw that the bandits had attacked a trading caravan and noticed that one of the women had been-" he paused as he tried to find the right word "-taken advantage of and killed. So she demanded that we find the ones responsible."

"So she was dispensing justice-" He was going to continue before he was interrupted by Kakashi.

"She tortured the man who was in charge for an undisclosed amount of time, I'm not sure if she made him suffer for one minute or thirty, but she made a grown man beg for death. She used her Sharingan for so long it broke a blood vessel in her eye." Kakashi continued in a tone that was lacking its usual lazy charm.

Sarutobi took another drag from his pipe in thought. "Hikari has passed all of her psych evaluations with flying colors." He said as he began to think out loud. "So I find it unlikely that something like this would make her snap… which means that this kind of darkness is hiding right beneath the surface, waiting for a proper stimulus before it makes its appearance." Sarutobi began to chew on the end of his pipe in thought. A nervous tick perhaps, but for some reason it helped him to think. "I tried for quite a long time to inform her about abiding by the principles of the Will of Fire… She was a most promising pupil."

"Was?" Kakashi's tone signified that he did not like him talking about her in the past tense like that.

"Before she was your student is what I meant. I pray I have not made the same mistake I have with Orochimaru. I see so much of him in the girl, but she is also quite different. The same inquisitive mind, but Hikari is more… sociable." He said with grim finality. "I will not allow myself to make the same mistake twice. She should be surrounded by loved ones, reminded who it is she would die to protect, who she would kill to save." He paused for a moment in gentle contemplation. "Perhaps she should continue doing her spars with the members of team Gai and Sasuke… and maybe a kunoichi as well, someone younger than her who wasn't a teammate, but would develop a sort of friendly repertoire with her."

"Well, there are a few kunoichi in Sasuke's class who I'm sure would jump at the chance to get on his cousin's good side."

Sarutobi noticeably blanched. "No, we don't want one of Sasuke's fangirls chasing her around so that she can get brownie points for their beloved Uchiha." He paused before realization dawned on him and he almost slammed his head into his desk. "All of the girls in his class are going to be fawning over him, so how about we take one of the top ranked kunoichi, and kind of give her to Hikari under the guise of tutoring… or an apprenticeship."

"Hikari's is still a genin, won't it seem a bit strange that she has a student? I'm a jonin, and I only have a student because you're making me."

"Students." Sarutobi corrected him before continuing his previous line of thought. "How about Sakura Haruno?"

"I don't know who that is Hokage-Sama." Kakashi replied.

"She is an academy student. Brilliant girl with a bit of a temper, she has a pretty weak chakra pool and rather low stamina, but excellent control." Kakashi still looked like he had no idea who the old man was talking about. "She has pink hair."

"Oh, Pinky-San! Why didn't you say that in the first place?" He said with a smile.

Sarutobi sighed. "Just be sure to let her know how training is going to be working out. Regular training she usually has with you in the mornings, and then after that she will have a sparring partner for each day of the week with a break on the weekend." Kakashi was about to say something when Sarutobi interrupted him. "Of course, you will be sparring with her once a week in order to check her progress. How is she coming along in fuinjutsu?"

"Quite well. She has a knack for it, I believe. She's already gotten most of the foundational stuff down, and I plan on moving her to actually using those basics to create something useful… Of course I can only teach her so much. Jiraiya is much better at this then I am, but the library has some books she could use once she gets as good as I am… then again she wouldn't usually be allowed access to them till she's a jonin-"

"But you could get them for her." Sarutobi interrupted. "This conversation never took place."

"Hokage-Sama, I was never even here." Kakashi said before disappearing with the familiar 'poof' of a dispelling shadow clone. Sarutobi chuckled before he returned to his smoke break. That damned paperwork could wait another ten minutes.

* * *

><p>"Hey everyone! Look at Konoha's newest genin!" Hikari shouts as she burst into the restaurant with an unconscious Hinata on her back. "Hurry before she wakes up and realizes someone is looking at her!" Hikari looked into the restaurant to see who all Gai and Lee had gathered for her birthday. It wasn't a very large gathering. In addition to Gai and Lee, there was Anko, Kakashi, Neji, Hinata, Sasuke, the Hokage, some bun-haired girl she had never met, and the Sand siblings. "I didn't realize so many of my friends were so old…"<p>

Sarutobi, Kakashi, and Gai faceplant (Gai started yelling something about his youthfulness). Anko puts a fist next to Hikari. "OLD?! I'm 24!"

"Yea, and everyone else here is 12 or younger, (Kankuro and Temari mumble something about being older than that) which means you are double my age." Hikari says as Hinata begins to regain consciousness. Hikari (rather unceremoniously) drops Hinata from her shoulders and she hits the ground with a small "Eep."

"HEY!" Hinata yells before she notices that there are other people around. She turns bright red as she emits another "Eep!"

Hikari leans in close to the grounded Hinata. "We are going to have to work on that little Kohai… I understand not wanting to be seen is an admirable ninja trait, but this is kind of ridiculous." Hinata blushed even more furiously in response. "We can talk about this later though."

"Hikari, this newest genin seems to be quite youthful." Gai whispered as his face appeared between the two of theirs (it appeared that he likes being included in whispers). This proximity to Hinata caused her to blush even more as she also realized the rest of the restaurant was also looking in her general direction. Hinata almost lost consciousness again before she was pulled up from her position on the floor by Hikari.

"Oh, no you don't." Hikari said as she brought Hinata back up to a standing position. "You are going to stand there, and you are not going to pass out for at least an hour. We'll call it my birthday present." She said with a smile.

"Are the two of you done? That kind of behavior is not befitting someone of the Main Branch of the Hyuga family." Neji said with a 'hmph.'

Hikari almost instantaneously appeared beside Neji and pushed his cheeks in and pretended to talk like him. "I'm Neji, emotions are so lame and not befitting a Hyuga." He didn't stop her, but he kept his arms folded and scowled. "Fate has dictated that I stand here like an emotionless statue."

The girl with buns in her hair looked like she had been slapped across the face with a fish. Hikari stopped grabbing at Neji's face before she turned in her direction. "I don't think I know you…"

"I'm Tenten." Hikari didn't seem to recognize her. "I sat right behind you in the academy for years."

"Doesn't ring a bell… But it is nice to meet you!" Hikari said with a small smile.

"We have met… we were the only two girls who thought kunoichi class was dumb and would practice throwing our projectile weapons instead… We talked for hours!"

"Oh, of course how could I forget!? Tenten! How are you doing?" Hikari bluffed.

_You don't remember her at all do you?_

_Not even a little bit…_

"I've been good. Of course, training with those two knuckleheads (Gai was challenging Kakashi to a competition to prove their youthfulness while Rock Lee cheered on with admiration in his eyes) is giving me a headache more often than not." She said with a laugh.

"Yea, they are quite a rambunctious pair." She shielded her eyes from the scene that Gai was making. Any moment now they were going to do their terrifying not-a-genjutsu, she heard the crash of a wave break across the rocks and was pretty sure it was only going to be a few more seconds before the nightmare was over. "And I'm sure Neji doesn't help out all that much." She heard a 'hmph' somewhere in the restaurant but didn't care to locate it.

"Yea, he typically says something condescending and then goes off somewhere to train." Tenten looked around to see if Neji had heard her… he had and was glowering at the two of them.

"I think grumpy guy over there heard you, hope you don't mind but I am going to throw you to the wolves." Tenten turned to complain to Hikari, but she had already moved to the other side of the restaurant and was talking to the Uchiha boy. _Oh she's good._

* * *

><p>The next few hours Hikari spent talking and socializing with the people she cared about, and also Kakashi. He was still on probation for his little quips in the Sand village. Hikari hadn't spent so much time with them that didn't involve sparring since… well ever. She wasn't a particularly excellent socialite, but she was pretty good at pretending she was socially competent enough to interact with different people in different ways to maximize their interactions.<p>

_We really have gotten this down to a pretty weird science. _

_Yea, well we developed all those social interactions for a reason, Mamoru-Kun. I have gotten pretty good at them, but they don't particularly work in group situations… we should probably develop some._

_OR we could try doing it by trial and error._

_I am so not a fan of that. I'd rather have a plan ahead of time for how I'm supposed to talk to multiple people at once._

_I'll start writing up a plan. _He said rather resignedly.

_Are you going to use your tail? How do you plan to write it up?_

_IT'S AN EXPRESSION! YOU KNOW THAT'S A SORE SPOT FOR ME!_

_I'm sorry Mamoru._

_No you aren't._

_True, but I still love ya._

"Hikari-Chan! It is time for you and me to display our youthful energies in a stunning display of youthfulness! This will be the time that I demonstrate how hard work can defeat genius!" Lee said with a literal fire in his eyes.

"Did you say something?" Hikari says as she looks over to him. She had heard him, but Kakashi had told her that if you acted like you ignored the challenge it would make Gai and Lee frustrated, which was positively hilarious.

"Kakashi, why have you taught your student to be so cool!?" Gai said as lee and he fell to the floor with tears pouring out of their eyes.

"What was that?" Kakashi said as he turned away from his plate of barbecue to bring his attention to the duo. "Did you say something?" Gai physically deflated at being ignored two times in a row. "Oh, right. Aren't our two little protégés supposed to spar or something? Can this count as our competition too?" He asked rather aloofly. Hikari's position behind him allowed her to be the only person who saw him cross his fingers in hope.

"An excellent wager Kakashi! If Lee fails in his spar against I will take 5 laps around on my hands…" He continued his self-imposed rules for a full minute before Kakashi coughed and he was broken from his monologue. "SPAR TIME!" He grabbed the two genin and pulled them from the restaurant while sprinting to the nearest training field.

"Well…" Anko says as she observes Gai disappear in a trail of dust. "I want to see how my little apprentice does against the Green Beast's mini clone." Anko said as she began following behind the dust cloud of the trio.

"She's actually my apprentice though." Kakashi says as he follows Anko out the door.

"I'm sure all you've done is throw on some heavier waits and taught her a jutsu." Anko said while smirking.

"I-I taught her some fuinjutsu too!" Kakashi yells as he runs after Anko's diminishing form. "I'm new to this, am I supposed to be doing more!? Don't laugh, I have no idea how teenage girls are supposed to work!"

"You are as attentive as ever Kakashi!" Anko yells behind her.

* * *

><p>Hikari and Lee stood 10 paces apart as Gai began to enumerate the rules of their little spar. "So, no ninjutsu or genjutsu. Just our Taijutsu. Should we remove our weights now, or wait till later?" Hikari questioned as she began going through a few stretches.<p>

"I think we should go ahead and remove our weights! That way we start of our match in the most youthful way possible!" Lee said as he positioned himself into a fighting stance.

Gai signaled the start of the match and the two genin removed their weights, creating a small cloud of dust that was quickly dissipated by the force of the impact of the two genin meeting in combat. The two of them were a blur of motion as they blocked, dodged, and struck at each other with bone crushing intensity. Hikari had her Sharingan spin into activity as she observed and predicted his movements with unerring accuracy. Her having the crap beat out of her by a jonin on a daily basis had really helped improve her ability to take a hit as well as roll with the punches, and her snake style Taijutsu allowed her to flow over his rock hard attacks like water bending and contorting in ways that most would call inhuman if they weren't watching her do it before their eyes.

Lee jumped into the air and spun a kick at her head, which she only barely managed to dodge before she stuck one of the tenketsu point in his thigh as his leg passed over her bent form. He winced as he landed and pushed himself away from her so that she wouldn't be able to capitalize on her little victory. "You have improved significantly from the little boy who didn't even know how to throw a punch." Hikari said as she breathed heavily. Lee was fast, not as fast as Anko or Kakashi, but unlike them he wasn't pulling his punches so they wouldn't hurt as bad. Her arms and legs were sore from blocking his strikes, but she refused to let him realize that she was tiring.

"I am glad to hear it Hikari-Chan. You have also improved significantly from our academy days." He paused for a moment to take a few breaths before he continued. "But you aren't being fair to me. You are not giving this fight your all, there have been a few windows that I know you could have exploited with your modified gentle fist style." He sighed before he continued. "Which tells me you do not respect me as an opponent."

"Or it tells you that I am enjoying this spar of ours and don't want it to end prematurely." She inhaled deeply before her eyes hardened and her body seemed to leak a nearly primeval murderous intent. "If it is a true battle you want, then that's what we'll do." Her smile seemed mildly crazed as she licked her lips in anticipation. Her eyes shone in deadly intent before she sprinted to the green clad genin.

Sarutobi watched over the events with a mask of passivity but on the inside his mind was working at a mile per minute. Only a moment ago Hikari had been the exact same little girl that he had known for years, but now she seemed so much like his old student. She'd even unconsciously adapted his mannerisms. _She's only spent minutes with him in her entire life, there is no way she's picked them up from those miniscule interactions. Which means she's developed them herself. _He looked again at the young woman who reminded him so much of his student that he had loved like son.

He had been too naïve to see the warning signs for Orochimaru, but now that he had suffered at the hands of betrayal it was clear as crystal. The darkness in her heart was right in front of him, and she was able to call upon it at a moment's notice. She wasn't going to actually kill the boy, but the intent was there and he could feel it. _This merits further inspection, I'll be sure to have one of my ANBU keep close tabs on her._

After the few second conversation the two genin had, Hikari's attacks had become even more violent and powerful. The two genin blurred into activity as their attacks failed to hit their marks. The two of them were Taijutsu masters in training, where Hikari had form and fluidity, Lee had savagery and bone crushing strength. Their speed was almost perfectly matched and Hikari couldn't deactivate enough of his tenketsu to stem his abilities. She had hoped to deactivate all the Tenketsu in one of his limbs, but at best she had slowed the chakra flow to his extremities, not stopped it.

She was tired and her arms and legs were sore from blocking his attacks, the two of them had been fighting like two devils, with each strike forcing the other person to shudder under the strength of the impact. She wasn't going to resort to using her curse mark against Lee, but she could tell that the two of them were running on low. She saw him slip in his defense for only a moment. Which was all she needed to slide past his defense and continuously strike his now unguarded chest. She immobilized both of his arms as she blocked of the tenketsu points that led to those extremities. Her hands were a blur of activity as she landed blow after blow on his body before she kicked him away.

Lee landed on the ground with a loud thud as he coughed and tried to get back up into a standing position before his arms failed him and he returned face first into the grass. He breathed heavily as he tried once again to return to a standing position using only his legs. He wasn't able to make more than three steps towards his opponent before he felt a severe pain in his chest and collapsed once again into the ground.

Hikari walked over to the struggling green clad genin before she knelt down next to the boy and held her fingers to the base of his skull. "It would probably be best if you yield Lee." She looked at her already bruising arms and legs. "We had quite the excellent spar, and I'm quite proud of how you've improved."

"I won't… give up!" He said in between great gasps of air. "I've trained too hard to lose!"

Hikari punched him in the back of his head and his face collided with the ground forcing some grass into his mouth. "Oh, and I haven't? Always assume your opponent has trained just as hard as you have to get where they are now." She picked him up and returned him to a standing position. "Hinata, would you please open up the tenketsu points I closed in my fight? I have a general idea which ones I've closed, but would like someone who can actually see the points to do this as opposed to just guessing."

Hinata approached Lee with her Byakugan active as she readied her hands and placed them over his closed tenketsu points. Quickly opening them up to restore chakra flow to the rest of his body. He became more firm on his feet and his breathing became easier.

Hikari began to walk from the training field. "Well, it was fun, but I am heading home. See you tomorrow, sensei!" She disappeared in a flurry of leaves before she began jumping from rooftop to rooftop back towards her apartment. Definitely her best birthday.

* * *

><p>Hikari was in the same ocean of darkness she had been in days before. Strange, why would she remember being here? She'd never traversed a place like this before, and she didn't dream so that's completely off the table.<p>

Everything here seemed familiar, but there wasn't a reason for it to be. Everyone who had been on her birthday appears under spotlights all around her. They all seemed tired and sad. Their eyes had bags under them and they were covered in bruises and blood.

_You can't protect all of them._

Hikari watched as all of the spotlights but Hinata's blacked out, leaving nothing but her alone in the darkness with a broken and bruised Hinata. She tried to walk over to him so that she could help him in some way, but she was stuck to the floor. She looked as someone with a blank mask walked toward the injured Hyuga. Hikari struggled against her restraints pulling at her legs to give her freedom.

_After all, you are going to be the reason they die._

The masked person appeared in front of her and stood completely still. Hikari went to draw her tanto as the masked individual began getting into the gentle fist style. The two of them began to engage in a battle to the death. Hikari landing small blows with her tanto on his arms that he was too slow to evade. Hikari shifted to a reverse grip on her blade and slashed across the masked-nin's face, leaving a small slash across the face guard. She struck at the tenketsu in his neck as she readjusted her blade and stuck it into the heart all the way to the hilt.

The world shifted and she was in a grassy field beneath the stars. She returned her attention to the masked ninja she just stabbed to see Neji coughing up blood onto her arm, as Hinata looked on, horror plastered across her face as she watched her cousin collapse onto the grassy field, painting it red with his blood.

_You are a friend-killer, traitor, monster. You will only leave suffering in your wake. Better for you to leave Konoha and spare them this pain._

Hikari started hyperventilating and almost threw up at the sight of Neji's lifeless form. As a pale form ascended from the earth and looked on the scene in front of him. "Oh, my. You're becoming quite the little killer." Orochimaru smiled widely as he licked his lips. "I am quite proud of how you've developed, but you're going to have to be much stronger if you plan on killing me." He looked at the face down corpse of Neji. "I'm much harder to kill than a Hyuga genin."

Hikari's face contorted in rage. "Go away!" She charged at her father and began swinging her blade at him while attempting to strike at his tenketsu with her left hand. Tears began to blur her vision as he blocks her strikes with practiced ease.

"Your bonds to others is making you weak!" His fist collides with her stomach and knocked the wind from her lungs. "Severing your bonds is the only way you can become strong enough to kill me!" She blocked his next strike which was a high kick to the side of her head, but the force behind the strike was still powerful enough to launch her across the field 40 feet. She rolled to a stop coughing violently as she attempted to regain her bearings. "If you really want to become strong, you should find me. Konoha is stifling your potential. You are pathetically weak."

She watched as he began walking towards the shaking Hinata. "Oh, now who is this? A friend of yours?" He asked as he walked up to the quivering Hyuga girl. He picked her up by the neck and held her gaze with his own. "The Hyuga have always had such interesting eyes." He turned her face from side to side as he tightened his grip around her neck.

"Let her go!" Hikari said through clenched. "If you hurt her I'll crush you!" She began coughing violently as each breath made her lungs burn.

Orochimaru's smile widened as he tossed the young girl towards his daughter. "I'll let you kill her. She's all yours. You killed one Hyuga, I don't see why you should have a problem with killing another." Hikari held the young girl to her shoulder as the Hyuga heir cried and grasped onto her shirt like it was a lifeline. "Oh, she is quite attached to you. She just watched you kill her cousin, and she still clings to you like a baby chimp to its mother." He began walking away from the two girls. "Your ability to create such a loyal subject is admirable, but remember, she's only important to keep as long as she is useful to you."

He disappeared and with him her world became an ocean of blackness as Hinata disappeared before her eyes.

_You loved ones will suffer, you won't be able to save them all. You won't be able to save any._

* * *

><p>Hikari awoke with a start. Her heart was pounding out of her chest as her memories of her sleep began to slip away from her like sand flowing through her fingertips. She could not for the life of her remember what had gotten her so worried, or why she had a great desire to visit the Hyuga compound. She looked over at her alarm clock and sighed in resignation as she noticed her clock informed her it was four in the morning.<p>

She sighed in defeat as she got ready for her day. Her arms were even more soar than they usually were and covered in bruises from her fight with Lee. She fought through the pain as she pulled on her shirt and her punishingly heavy weights. She had not missed these weights while she was on mission. She placed her original weights in a transport seal she had placed inside of her kunai pouch.

She slowly trudged her way along the walls of Konoha as she began her laps for the day. She wasn't finished with them until 12 where she trudged her way into her training field. Covered in a layer of sweat and breathing heavily as she collapsed onto the ground by the lake.

"How's my little apprentice doing?" Kakashi asked as he appeared over her head. "I've been having the loveliest chat with… I forgot her name. My first impression, she's even more socially inept than us." She looked across the field and noticed Hinata hiding behind a tree.

"She hasn't said a word has she?" Hikari asked exhausted.

"Not even a little bit, I asked her a name and she just stumbled over her words… I think it starts with an H." He said while pretending to rack his brain for answers. "She hasn't come out from behind that tree for two hours."

Hikari sighed loudly. "Kohai, can you come out here and say hello to your sensei? He may look like a big bad ninja, but… Ok, well he is a big bad ninja, but he won't hurt you. Kakashi wouldn't hurt a teammate." Kakashi had a pained look cross his face for only an instant, he made sure neither of them noticed before he began carefully walking over to the tree the Hyuga girl was hiding behind.

Hinata began to slowly move from behind the tree, doing her nervous tick where she pushed her two pointer fingers together and avoided eye contact at all cost. Hikari removed her monstrously heavy weights and walked over to Hinata and lightly pulled the girl entirely away from the tree and sat her down in the grass in front of her sensei. Hikari sat down next behind her and placed her hands on the Hyuga's shoulders to keep her from running away (she was a bit of a flight risk when it came to these kind of social interactions).

"So." Kakashi said as he also sat down on the grass. "The two of you already know each other, but I don't really know you. So, tell me your name, likes, dislikes, and dreams." When Hinata remained completely silent he spoke again. "Fairly simple stuff… I have an idea." He used Henge and transformed himself into Hikari.

"I'm not comfortable with this." Hikari said as her mentor began imitating her mannerisms.

"Yea, well if she can only speak to you, we are just going to have to deal it this way until she becomes less… I'd say shy, but this is so far beyond shy I'd almost call it crippling." Kakashi-Hikari said with a sigh. He-she gave Hinata a very Hikari-like smile as he-she signaled for her to answer his-her question.

"Um, I-I'm Hinata H-Hyuga. I-I like f-flowers, Hikari-Sempai, and s-sweet foods." She said with a large blush on her face. She didn't like talking to people even if they did look exactly like her Senpai. She was worried her stutter would make her look like an idiot, which made her worried, which made her stutter. A vicious cycle. "I-I dislike s-seafood and being weak. My dream is t-to be confident enough t-to tell the person that-that-that…" She began stuttering incomprehensibly as she attempted to finish her sentence. Her face became as red as a tomato.

She hadn't realized that while she was talking Kakashi had dropped his Henge and no longer looked like Hikari. Which caused her to become even more red (which Kakashi hadn't even known was humanly possible.) Hinata passed out and fell into Hikari's lap.

"That went better than I expected!" Hikari said with a smile as she began to pet the unconscious Hyuga's head. "She managed to finish a couple of sentences about herself in an intimate group of three people. She's improving! Granted technically two of the three people were me, but an improvement is an improvement."

"This is an improvement? How am I supposed to train her if she won't talk?"

"One of your biggest complaints about me is that I talk too much. I thought you might like an apprentice who doesn't talk... you actually are gonna have two of them." Hikari said with a smile.

Kakashi looked like he was about to say something before he let out a sigh. "You do make a rather excellent point, but two silent students don't make up for your... personality." He tossed her a set of beginner chakra weights. "Put those on her whenever she wakes up and take her on your morning runs… maybe you'll actually run if your little Kohai is following you."

"Those weights are heavy, and 10 laps is a lot!" Hikari said indignantly.

"Excuses, excuses." He said waving her off. His attention returned to the unconscious girl in Hikari's lap. "Apparently I haven't been doing enough as a sensei. It seems that you practicing your speed and endurance isn't enough to transform you into a well balanced ninja."

"Well, you've also taught me a jutsu and increased my chakra control." Hikari said comfortingly.

"I know, I'm pretty great."

"Wouldn't go that far."

"Regardless! I can do more, so I am setting you up with 3 sparring partners you will fight with on weekdays as well as have you tutor an Academy student. I've noticed that for whatever reason, you seem to thrive most when you are teaching others something." He said with a smile. "So, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday you spar with Neji, Lee and Sasuke. Tuesday you spar with me. Thursday you teach your little Academy girl."

"Isn't Sasuke an Academy student?" Hikari asked only moderately confused.

"Yes… but he wouldn't really be a student, you two would probably spar so that you get a better understanding of Uchiha culture and Sharingan usage." He pulled out of his ass (in a rather convincing way if he did say so himself). "So, what are we going to with her?" Kakashi pointed to the unconscious girl.

"I… I'll carry her back to my apartment and make her some tea." She put her massive weights back on and sighed as she put Hinata's smaller weights into the transport seal in her kunai pouch. She put Hinata onto her back and began walking/trudging her way back to her apartment. "You better appreciate me for this, Kohai. Not just anyone would do this for you… it's a good thing you social ineptitude is just so damn cute."

_Language Hikari, naughty word._

_It was a compliment Mamoru-Kun! I'm 12 years old I should be allowed to say 'damn.'_

_Nope._

_Well, it's hard to refute that kind of logic._

Hikari mumbled something as she entered her apartment.

"Hello."

Hikari dropped Hinata rather unceremoniously and screamed as she threw a handful of senbon in the direction the noise came from inside of her apartment. Her Sharingan whirred into activity as she began observing her apartment down to the last detail. "Gaara, what are you doing here?" She asked as she watched his sand and her senbon drop to her floor. "How do you know where I live?"

"Kakashi-Sensei told me." He said in bored monotone. Hinata moaned on the floor as she slowly regained consciousness. "Who is she?"

"That is Hinata Hyuga, she is going to be our other teammate, so you've just increased your precious people by one." Hikari said with a smile. "She isn't very social, so when she wakes up… if she looks scared of you it isn't your fault, she's afraid of social interactions with everyone."

"So… she's even worse at conversation than I am?" Gaara asked with a slight inflection to demonstrate he was asking her a question (he was getting better).

"Yep." Hikari said as she walked over Hinata and went to make tea for the three of them. "So you didn't answer why you were here." She asked as she poured the tea into their cups and handed it to Gaara. Apparently he had moved Hinata to the couch while she hadn't been paying attention.

"We couldn't find you anything we thought you'd like at the shops." Gaara said in complete monotone.

"That's sweet, but I don't really need a present." Hikari said as she sat down on her couch and let Hinata use her lap as a makeshift pillow.

"So, I made you something instead." He said as a small ball of sand formed in his hand. Some of it seemed to melt away as it began to reveal the image of a six-petaled flower that opened up at the center and gently draped down to the base of the flower. It was barely 6 inches from end to end, but it looked beautiful. He held it out for her.

"Wow… It is very beautiful, Gaara." Hikari said quite stunned. It really was quite a beautiful flower, she'd never seen a flower quite as stunning.

"It is modeled after a desert flower that only appears for a few days of the year after the rains." He said as he avoided eye contact.

She took it from his hands and was about to say something else when he disappeared in a sand shunshin. There was sand all over the place. "I am really going to need to sweep my apartment after this."


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note:

Hello everyone! I've decided I am going to do a bit of a time skip, it's just going to be a jump to Naruto graduating. Nothing really happens in this time that was positively ground breaking (Just missions and training that I'm going to give a brief synopsis on). They all learn a couple of new jutsu, and Hinata becomes able to speak to all of her teammates (even though she is most comfortable talking with Hikari). I just didn't want to waste a whole lot of chapters on stuff that could essentially be demonstrated in flashbacks.

ONTO THE CHAPTER! If you enjoy please leave a review, I would really appreciate it and I would love the feedback. :D

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><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 13

"Kakashi, I would like a report on the progress of your genin team." Sarutobi said in a no nonsense kind of way. "Tell me what they've learned. I see they've accomplished 34 D-Rank missions, 15 C-Rank missions, and even a few B-rank missions, but that doesn't tell me what all they know. Start with Hinata, how has she grown?"

"Well, over the past 10 months, Hinata has really managed to come out of her shell. Of course, this just means that she is capable of having a whole conversation with us without stuttering… just us three though, no one else for some reason." He paused as if in thought before continuing. "She has become very skilled in the Hyuga family gentle fist style, but has also adopted some of Hikari's Taijutsu into it. It is quite graceful actually, when the two of them fight, you'd think you were watching a choreographed dance." He said with a small hint of admiration. "She's managed to learn a couple of water-style ninjutsu, but they aren't exactly her forte. I've made her the heir for my ninken, and they have gotten quite a liking for each other. Her teeth are even starting to grow in." He said with a little too much excitement before he concluded. "Definitely a candidate for the Chunin exams."

Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe as he seemed to contemplate what it was that Kakashi had just told him. "And what of Gaara? How has he improved?"

"After we had Jiraiya fix up his seal, he has been getting significantly more sleep and has also gotten a bit more cheerful. Doesn't smile very often for some reason, but it is easy to tell that he is happy spending time with those that he has dubbed his 'precious people.'" Kakashi said with a smile that reached all the way to his eye. "Isn't a fan of endurance running or strength tests, but we did convince him to practice swordsmanship, which he has become quite adept in. His sand jutsu is incredibly strong. He probably has the skills and knowledge to be a jonin if I'm honest. He left to return to the sand to begin some of his Kazekage training last week."

"He doesn't have knowledge of any village secrets. Does he?" When Kakashi shook his head no Sarutobi sighed in relief. "Good, we may be allies with Sunagakure, but I don't want them to have knowledge of our secret jutsu. How has Hikari grown?"

"Well, with access to some of Suna's records on poisons and toxins she has become quite the little poison aficionado, and has even started developing some of her own devilish concoctions. She's managed to fully awaken her Sharingan. She added lightning natured chakra to her modified Gentle Fist style, which hurts even more when she manages to land a direct hit on the tenketsu points. She's gotten even better at fuinjutsu than I am. WHERE DOES SHE FIND ALL THOSE BOOKS? You didn't give her access to the jonin sections of the library have you?" Sarutobi shook his head in a silent no. "She has to be routinely breaking in then, every week it's a new book… Anyway, she's learned quite a few new fire and lightning style jutsus, and even a couple of water style jutsus. It takes her about two minutes to change the chakra in her system to water in order to use them… and the only reason she knows them is because I was showing them to Hinata while her Sharingan was activated." He then mumbled something that Sarutobi wasn't able to understand.

"Could you repeat that Kakashi?" He mumble something again that Sarutobi still wasn't able to understand. "Try again."

"I… I taught her the Chidori." He said quietly as he began to rub his hand across the back of his head

"So, not only does she have the ability to manipulate three different chakra natures, but you also taught this relatively unstable 12 year old girl the A-class assassination jutsu, the Chidori?" Sarutobi said incredulously.

"Hey, I was around that age when I developed that jutsu, and she's responsible enough to know when to use it." He said a little too defensively.

"I would say that your team is most definitely ready for the Chunin Exams coming up in 3 months."

"I'd say that they were already chunin in everything but name." Kakashi said with a smile.

"Excellent in that case." He tossed a folder over his desk to the jonin. "There is the profile on the new batch of genin you are going to train. You should be able to whip them into shape for the upcoming exams."

Kakashi looked hurt. "But… I already have a team. Hikari and Hinata have even started wearing masks and everything, it's adorable."

"Hinata has been scheduled to practice with a jonin of the Hyuga family, and Gaara is in the land of Wind getting prepped to become the next Kazekage when his father steps down. Which means you will retain Hikari as your apprentice to help you teach your new batch of… I believe she calls them hatchlings." Sarutobi said with a chuckle. "She has spent a rather large amount of time with this set of 'hatchlings'."

"Hmm, the grumpiest little Uchiha, the pink-haired screaming banshee, and generic academy student #10475… I'm already getting a migraine." Kakashi said as he began to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Can't we just make Hikari a jonin and have her do it?" Kakashi was only half joking about it. She already had 10 months of experience training with two-thirds of his new team, which meant he would need to focus his training on the one who had been left behind... probably. Unless she wasn't a good a teacher as he thought she was.

"No."

"Fine." He said rather dejectedly. "Just because I create fantastic shinobi doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Oh yea, it's all your doing." Sarutobi said sarcastically as he returned his attention to his paperwork. "The graduation ceremony is today, which means you will be meeting up with your team for the first time tomorrow. Of course, we can make some adjustments if anything were to come up.

"Question. Who will be the third person on Hinata and Hikari's team, since Gaara is going to be being groomed for the position of Kazekage during the Exams."

"I will have them joined by one of our career genin who have signed up, most likely one that has not had a jonin sensei, but won't be deadweight either." Sarutobi said as he began stamping away at one of his many papers.

Kakashi left in a shunshin of leaves that blew across his office. "Chia!" A young woman poked her head through the door. "Would you be a dear and get a broom?"

* * *

><p>"OH! I'M SO PROUD OF MY LITTLE ACADEMY STUDENTS!" Hikari yelled as she pulled Sakura and Sasuke into a hug against their will. "Rookie of the Year and Kunoichi of the Year! I am such a good teacher." The two sounded like they were going to protest before she began pulling them by the collar towards the Korean Barbecue place. "Time to celebrate, lunch is on me."<p>

Sakura knew that struggling against her captor was an effort in futility. There was no doubt in her mind that Hikari was faster, stronger, and had more stamina than she did. Hikari had made her do endurance, speed, and chakra pool strengthening (a lot of the time that just meant that Hikari would chase her around town throwing senbon at her if she didn't run fast enough) for the entire time she had been tutoring her. She had also told her the secret to how she could win Sasuke's heart. All she needed to do was get strong enough for him to respect her abilities… which was a lot harder than it sounded. Her Sasuke-Kun was a hard man to please.

Sasuke tried to use a substitution jutsu to escape Hikari's snake like grip on his collar, but when he traded with the nearest training log he could find he came face to face with one of Hikari's clones. If he wasn't such an excellent ninja he would have yelped in surprise (ok, so he might have yelped just a little, but no one noticed). The clone tossed him back in front of Hikari who just shook her head. "You're going to have to try harder than that to get out of lunch." Sasuke glared at her from his position on his posterior before he grudgingly stood up and began walking towards the restaurant. The Uchiha might have been the greatest family in Konoha, but since she was technically an Uchiha too, this meant his blood advantage was essentially moot.

Once they were seated, they attempted to have friendly conversation. Which was essentially Sakura and Hikari talking while Sasuke brooded in the corner of their booth. No matter how hard Hikari tried she could not get more than a couple of sentences out of the boy that wasn't tainted with a combination of Uchiha pride and self-assuredness.

Hikari pulled down her mask and started to dig into the food that had just been brought to their table. Sometimes the mask was a lot of trouble, but it did help her to keep her facial expressions in check, and Kakashi had almost started crying when he she had asked if she could have one of his masks (that alone made these things totally worth it).

"So, Hikari-Sempai, do you know who our jonin sensei is going to be?" Sakura asked hopefully. "The anticipation is absolutely killing me!" Her mind began to race at a mile a minute when she thought of her and Sasuke-kun being on a team together, where she saves his life in a brilliant and flashy manner, which opens his eyes to her love, and then they become married and have two beautiful children. Her heart was about ready to beat out of her chest just thinking about it.

"Are you ok? You're breathing really hard." Hikari asks as she brings her hand to Sakura's forehead.

"I'M FINE!" Sakura practically screams across the table. She didn't get the nickname 'The Pink-Haired Banshee' for nothing.

Hikari checked to make sure she wasn't deaf before she replied to Sakura's previous question. "Nope. I'm not privy to that kind of information. Just be glad Kakashi is taken." She said with a chuckle. "He gets a lot of happiness by making children miserable. Just the other day he had me break into the Inuzuka compound and steal one of Akamaru's favorite toys. He called it a stealth exercise, but I think he just wanted to see the dog cry." She'd give the toy back eventually, but as of right now she was having too much fun making dog-boy chase after her little clues. He'd get it back when he deserved it.

"Hikari." Sasuke said from behind his hand. "There is something that I should show you. It's about our family." He looked like he was at war with himself, he was trying to hide it behind a veil of impassivity, but Hikari was skilled enough at reading emotions to know he wasn't happy about what he was about to show her.

_Sasuke's never referred to the Uchiha Clan as 'our family'. When he talks about it, he is usually very distant. Calling them, 'the Uchiha' or 'my clan,' but never family. _"Can it wait until after lunch?" Hikari asked with a faux smile she hoped would diffuse some of the tension. "After all, when you don't eat you become even grumpier than usual." She laughed and threw a grain of rice that stuck to the end of his nose.

Sasuke 'hmphed' in affirmation, or it might have been dismissal it was always difficult to tell sometimes. The three genin finished their lunches without incident, Hikari paid for all three of them (after all, she was loaded with cash, now that she didn't need to buy any seals and she collected her own material for her poisons the only thing she spent her money on was rent and replacement weaponry). _Kakashi and Anko have got to have enough money to sink a ship, unless of course they have some kind of cripplingly expensive habit._

_Maybe they live in a castle made out of gold?_

_I wouldn't put it past them, but even then they would still probably have money to spare._

_Maybe they dabble in investment banking?_

_This isn't getting us anywhere, Mamouru-Kun._

* * *

><p>Sasuke was leading her into the Uchiha district, past the long-abandoned houses that were free of weeds, but still demonstrated some decay after several years of emptiness. He led her to some shrine that had been named the Naka shrine. He walked her into the main hall and removed the 7th Tatami mat from the right. Leading her down a dark staircase into a small secret room with a stone on the far side, with the Uchiha crest on either side of it. The markings on it were completely indecipherable.<p>

"This is the tablet Itachi told me about on the night he murdered our clan… He told me that I should come here and read this tablet and then one day when I had eyes like his, I would fight him. His eyes weren't a regular Sharingan, they were different. Deadlier." He reached out his hand and caressed the stone. "I've been studying it in my free time, but I don't think you can read it without a Sharingan…" He looked hurt, the fact that he had been unable to read it had taken a huge toll on his pride, but Hikari was an Uchiha as well, and if he needed this knowledge to become stronger than so did she.

"You've never talked about that night before… I've always been curious about the destruction of your… our clan." Her Sharingan swirled into life. Three tomoe in each eye causing the indecipherable mess that had once been the tablet to become clear as crystal, but what it told her was abominable. The secret of the Uchiha, a family of clan-killers so that they could achieve greater visual prowess. Murdering your closest friend so that you could unlock its next stage, called the Mangekyo Sharingan. Removing the Mangekyo Sharingan from a friend so that you would not become blind.. So this is what it meant to be an Uchiha. Brutality, suffering and pain. She refused to allow Sasuke to share the same knowledge she now had. Which meant she would have to lie to him.

"Looks like there are two ways to unlock that Mangekyo Sharingan you'll need." She said as her eyes were locked onto the stone, unwavering from this chunk of rock that had revealed to her the abominable secrets of the Uchiha. "One requires you to undergo severe strain, and the other requires you to be incredibly vulnerable to someone else." She deactivated her Sharingan and turned to face her young cousin. He shouldn't have suffered as much as he had. "I do not want to watch you suffer Sasuke. You've been through enough pain."

"Two ways? My brother told me in order to get his eyes I would have to kill my closest friend." He looked at her with confusion covering his features. It was the most open she had ever seen her cousin. For a few sweet moments he didn't look like the jaded pessimist she had come to know. He was a child, willingly attentive to his superior's teachings.

"Yes. To activate this Sharingan, you can either kill the person who is closest to you, or you can devote yourself to your friends, make their suffering, your suffering. Their dreams, your dreams. Devote all of your training and ambitions to making yourself stronger to protect them, and when the time comes, when you are up against the rope and your loved ones are in peril, you will unlock your true strength." Tears began to form in her eyes as she forced herself to lie to her cousin. "Will you do this? For me? Prove that you are better than Itachi. Don't seek power the easy way, struggle to reach the top."

"I don't remember how to love people like that. I don't think I ever did." He hung his head in disappointment.

"You can learn. Start with the teammates you're going to be assigned tomorrow. Even if they are annoying, or beneath you in skill. Be patient with them, try to understand them." She wiped the tears away from her eyes. "I have another favor to ask of you Sasuke."

"What?"

"This stone has a dark and terrible history written upon it." She shuddered involuntarily. "I don't want your memories of our clan to be tainted by this." She pointed to the tablet across the room. "Please, don't read it. It will only lead to more suffering." That bit was painfully true.

"Fine." He turned away from the stone and walked out of the door. Sealing it behind the two of them as they walked into the midday sun. It was too beautiful a day for such terrible realizations.

* * *

><p>So that was what it meant to be a part of the Uchiha Clan. So that was what it took to become strong enough to annihilate an entire clan. She prayed to every Kami she could think of that she would not have to do any of the things written on the tablet to become strong enough to kill Orochimaru. She added Itachi to the list of people she was going to kill. He went above and beyond what was required to activate his Mangekyo Sharingan. An unquenchable fire. Control of the tailed beasts. An inescapable genjutsu. Mind Control. Teleportation. Reincarnation. These were only some of the powers the Sharingan could give, but at the cost of eventual blindness. Was this the reason he had left Sasuke alive? A remedy for the encroaching blindness, but nothing else.<p>

Why not leave more Uchiha alive in the event Sasuke was incapable of developing the second-stage? It seemed like a rather obvious oversight. More Uchiha means more spare eyes. There was more to this story. More to the massacre, but she wasn't going to be able to find it out. Any of the leads to the truth were buried with the rest of the clan years ago. Only one person could possible know the truth. Itachi Uchiha. Hikari was going to pry the truth from his lips before she turned him into a corpse for what he had done.

Hikari felt drained, both emotionally and physically. Reading the tablet had taken much more chakra than it should have, and lying to her cousin had pained her heart. She'd killed people, stolen precious gems and useless toy, and learned how to become a living weapon as her day job, but lying to someone precious to her had hurt her even more than one of Lee's punches.

She would skip today's spar, she wanted to be alone in her apartment and sleep away the guilt. She nonchalantly opened the door to her apartment to be greeted by the scent of freshly brewed tea.

"Ohayo, Hikari-Sempai!" She heard Hinata's cheery voice from inside her apartment. _How does she keep getting in here? She spends more time at my place than she does in her own home._

_Well, she is a ninja._

_Excellent point._

"Hinata, if you are going to break into my apartment, you could at least tell me first." Hikari sighed as she entered 'her' apartment. "If you keep sleeping over as much as you do, I'm going to make you start paying rent."

"Please, you'd be so lonely if you didn't have me as your companion." She handed Hikari a cup of tea she had finished brewing. The two girls pulled down their masks and took a careful sip of the fresh tea. "As if you needed help paying rent anyways." She muttered as she continued sipping at her tea. "You live in the equivalent of low income housing, why have you not moved from the Academy designated living area yet? Your apartment is way too small for two people."

"That's because it isn't designed for two people Hinata. If you want to go house shopping with me, I am afraid I am going to need a ring first. What would your father say if he found out you were shacking up with me in sin!" She asked with amused faux terror.

"Oh, yea. Because that is exactly what is happening here." Hinata said amongst an amused smile. "The naughty Uchiha girl is bringing my virtue into question. Oh whatever shall I do?!" Hinata asked as she brought both hands to her face, replicating Hikari's expression of faux terror to a T.

"Naughty? Since when did I become naughty?" Hikari asked with mock hurt. "I will have you know I am one of the most moral trained murderers this side of the fire country."

"Are you two done yet?" Their silver-haired sensei asked from the window.

"I don't invite people to my apartment, but still they show up. I am far too nice for my own good." Hikari grumbled as she laid down on her couch. "What is it this time Kakashi? Want me to break into the Aburame clan's living area and put funny hats on all of Shino's beetles?"

"No, but that is an excellent idea. I'll get started on ordering a couple thousand small hats. I'll write it off as a training expense." He was broken from his reverie when Hinata coughed. "This time, I've come to talk to you guys about the chunin exam in about three months." He paused for dramatic effect. "You will both be joining."

"Well, duh." The two girls remarked as they watched their sensei almost face plant. "It is the only reason we weren't put in the Chunin Exams that were in Kiri and Suna." Hinata commented as she began pouring a cup for Kakashi.

"Well, if you'd let me tell you the details instead of smarting off, you'd know that there has been a change of plans." Both girls immediately gave him their full attention. "Hinata, you have been slated to be trained by a jonin with the Byakugan, so that you can learn some of the more advanced katas and techniques of the gentle fist while Hikari and I train a fresh little batch of genin."

"What?" The girls asked at the same time.

"I thought that genin teams were around for years." Hikari stated. "We've barely been a group for 10 months, and Gaara left last week to do his Kazekage training, or whatever it's called. Are we still teamed up for the Chunin Exams?"

"Yes. Once again, you didn't let me finish. A new batch of baby genin sounds more appealing by the minute." Kakashi sighed.

"Wait… we are teaching them?" Hikari clarified. "Why do I have to help?"

"Because you are my apprentice and I've taught you the Chidori..." When that didn't appear to sway her he added. "You're helping because I say so. Also, as a Chunin, you need to be able to be a leader, and that is what this will teach you how to do that." He said with an eye smile through his mask. He had somehow managed to drink his tea without either of them seeing him take off his mask.

"You just pulled that out of your ass!" Hikari yelled as she pushed him out the window. He landed on his feet with grace and poise, of course, but that didn't mean she didn't find it cathartic.

"Regardless, we meet our new genin team at noon tomorrow, don't be late." He shunshined out of her window leaving a cavalcade of leaves in his wake.

"That was my favorite tea cup." Hinata said sadly from next to the couch.

"So… since he said noon, he really means like 5, right?" Hikari asked as she returned to her lying position on the couch.

"I'd assume so, but he didn't tell me where to meet my teacher." Hinata said.

"He has a tendency to leave out incredibly important details when he considers them banal." Hikari said with a wave of her hand. "So, are you planning on sleeping over, or was this just a tea visit?"

"Do you have the supplies to make the s'mores and pillow fort?" Hikari nodded her head in silent affirmation. "Then what do you think?" Hinata laid down opposite of Hikari, only somewhat squishing the paler girl into the couch cushions.

"Just a small nap first." Hikari said as she yawned and closed her eyes. "Feels like I haven't had a decent nights sleep in ages." The nightmares had evolved from once every week or so to literally every night, and the worst part was that now she remembered them. Every. Single. Detail. She let that disturbing thought slip from her mind and prayed to Kami that she'd get some decent rest.

* * *

><p>Hikari awoke to alarms ringing in the distance. Something had happened and the Hokage wanted all available ninja available at the double. Hikari pushed Hinata off of the couch and escaped out of her window. She didn't have time to properly wake her, so that would have to do. Despite the peeling of the bell, Konoha was eerily silent. Hikari could feel the tension in the air, taste it on the wind.<p>

Something important was about to happen, something that would shape the ninja world. She just needed to find out what it was.

"Hikari! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE!? This alert was for chunin and jonin level ninja only!" The pony-tailed chunin teacher practically screamed. It would have frightened her, but his big-head genjutsu rage stopped being scary once you realized he wasn't a particularly powerful ninja.

Hikari continued on her path, attempting to feel out any change in the atmosphere that might lead her to the source of this phenomenon. "Apologies, Sensei. What's all the ruckus about?" He might be obligated to escort her back to her home, but if she could pry some details out of him before she made her escape, it would be worth it.

"Someone stole the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage Residence, but that is none of your concern. You will return to your home immediately, Hikari." His eyes softened and he gave a caring smile as the two of them continued to traverse the rooftops. "It's far too dangerous tonight."

Hikari stopped in her tracks. She inhaled deeply, she could faintly taste Naruto's demonic chakra in the air. It was pulsing in intensity from the forest. _He shouldn't be out right now, especially if it is as dangerous as Iruka says. What do you think, Mamoru-Kun?_

_Well, it would most definitely be our duty to protect a lowly academy student._

_You could at least pretend that's the real reason. You just don't want to deal with Hinata's pillow fort._

_Your slumber parties make me cry tears of boredom._

_WE BOTH KNOW YOU DON'T HAVE TEAR DUCTS! _ "Sorry, Iruka. Something I have to do real quick. If it is indeed as dangerous as you say. Then we should probably get Naruto inside first." Hikari said as she began sprinting towards the source of the demonic chakra.

Iruka began following after her across the city. It took about 20 minutes to find the slippery little academy student. Reading a particularly large scroll. "IT'S OVER!" Iruka yelled as he stared disbelievingly at his student.

"You got me pretty quick, Iruka-Sensei! I only had time to learn one jutsu!"

Hikari sighed and began to rub her temples. "Oh yes, surely the village is in great danger. Behold the terror that is Naruto and weep." Hikari said sarcastically as she detected a fourth chakra signature.

"HEY! Don't make fun of me! I'm going to be a great ninja! Mizuki-Sensei said that if I could learn a jutsu from this scroll, it'd count as passing the exam."

"So, they got to you before I could, eh?" The fourth signature emerged from the shadows of the tree and stared down at the three of them with a wolfish grin.

"Mizuki! What are you doing here? What's this nonsense about you talking to Naruto about this?" Iruka was obviously confused. There was no reason for Mizuki to do something like this.

"I was going to kill Naruto and take the scroll for myself!" Mizuki yelled as he draws one of his fuma shuriken. "But now, it looks like I'll just kill all three of you. Killing two of Konoha's resident monsters and a traitor. I'll be hailed as a hero of the village, and no one will even be the wiser."

It was Naruto's turn to be confused. "What do you mean monsters? There aren't any monsters here."

"MIZUKI! YOU KNOW THE THIRD HOKAGE FORBID US FROM SPEAKING ABOUT THAT!" Iruka yelled.

"Hardly matters now!" Mizuki yelled maniacally. "Want to know why everyone hates you Naruto? Want to know why no one speaks to you?" He stared darkly at Naruto. "IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE THE NINE-TAILS FOX!" He screamed at the boy. "You're the reason the Fourth is dead, why Iruka's parents are dead. HE HATES YOU!"

Hikari pulses her chakra and releases her waits. "I have grown tired of your voice already. Mizuki, if you think you can kill us, then why are you just standing there?" Hikari draws her tanto with her left hand in a reverse grip as she palms three senbon in her right. "Let's see how you fight against one of Konoha's resident monsters!" Hikari's Sharingan swirls to life as she looks up at the chunin before she practically disappears.

Hikari's voice echoes across the entire forest, which makes it impossible to detect its source. "What's the matter Mizuki? Aren't you going to kill me?" A senbon emerges from the darkness and pierces Mizuki in the back. Avoiding any of his vital organs or tenketsu points.

Mizuki turned in time to deflect two more senbon that would have pierced his spinal column and rendered him immobile. Hikari emerges from the shadows and strikes against his fuma shuriken. "AS IF I'D BE DEFEATED BY A MONSTER LIKE YOU!" He screams as he pushes her away.

"Your reaction time is a 3 at best." Hikari said as she ran her right hand through her hair. "Taijutsu, is approximately a 2. Let's see how you deal with a genjutsu." Hikari locked eyes with the silver haired chunin.

Mizuki feels his body get pierced by a hundred senbon as he was pinned to the tree by a flaming sword. He watches as his body begins to melt around the blade, and feels a thousand volts of electricity channeled through the senbon in his skin. Mizuki closes his eyes against the pain, trying with all his might to dispel the genjutsu before he passes out from sheer agony.

"Pathetic." Mizuki opens his eyes as the pale girl stabs him in the chest with her tanto all the way to the hilt. "Not only are you a traitor, but you are also a bad one." Mizuki's lung begn filling with blood as she pulls her tanto from his chest. He gurgles for breath as she knocks his fuma shuriken out of his hand. She leans in next to his ear as she holds the blade to his neck. "I don't like that you called the boy a monster. He hasn't done anything particularly monstrous." Hikari brought the blade up to mouth and ran her tongue along the blade. "I'm the only monster here." She slowly turns around and holsters her tanto. "You've only got about 4 seconds before my poison shuts down your lungs anyway... senbon are useful like that." Hikari kicks him across the face and his body fumbles towards the forest floor.

He lands with an unceremonious crack in front of Naruto and Iruka. Followed seconds later by Hikari landing in front of them. "Naruto… I wouldn't worry about what he said." She says as she burns away Mizuki's corpse with one of her fire jutsu. "You are not the thing you carry inside you. You'll only be a monster if you choose to traverse the darkness. " She turns away from him and begins walking towards her home. "I'd prefer that you walk in the light, I'll be your shadow. It's the least I could do." She disappears in a shunshin of leaves. Hinata still expected those s'mores.

_You tried really hard to sound cool right there._

_Shut up! YOU ARE RUINING THE MOMENT!_

_Oh no, I totally get it. "I'll be your shadow." It's all very cool sounding, very dramatic. I liked it.  
><em>

_If he is going to be the Hokage someday, he is going to need to maintain that bright spirit of his. I will do what is required of me to protect the village, no matter how distasteful it may be._

_You don't need to try to sound cool with me, I totally get it._

_You literally have no flair for the dramatic._

_Yea, well I'm also a snake._

_Point taken._

* * *

><p>Omake: Gaara's first slumber party<p>

"Why am I here?" Gaara asked as he entered Hikari's bedroom.

"It's a teambuilding exercise!" Hikari said from inside of her fort made of pillows and sheets. "We are going to be traveling with each other, so we might as well get used to each other's sleeping habits."

"I don't sleep."

"There are also cookies in here, and I'm making s'mores with my fire cantrip." Hikari was trying her hardest to make that sound appealing to Gaara.

"That's probably a safety hazard." Gaara said with his usual monotone. "Why doesn't Kakashi-Sensei have to do this?"

"Because Kakashi-Sensei doesn't believe in fun, now get in here… AND ONLY BRING IN THE LEAST AMOUNT OF SAND POSSIBLE!"

"But I like sand." He almost sounded hurt. It was a very slight variation of his usual monotone.

"Yea, but Hinata and I don't like sleeping on sand." Hinata whispered something unintelligible to Hikari in their fort. "Hinata says that it is apparently good for exfoliating." He hears Hinata whisper something again. "NO I DO NOT SHED MY SKIN LIKE A SNAKE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Do I have to go in?"

"Why did I think this would be a good idea?"


	14. Chapter 14

Authors Note:

School, what more can I say? I'll try to keep coming out with these, but there is probably going to be like a week break in between each of them. My free time is severely limited. Oh well. Please enjoy, and give me a review if you did, I really appreciate it.

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 14

Hikari finished her day's training with just enough time to reach the Academy a few minutes early (a few minutes early by Kakashi standards obviously, if she had to guess everyone else had picked up their students hours ago). Of course, Kakashi the genius had forgotten to mention where in the Academy she would find him and his students. _Kakashi is so bad with minutiae it makes my heart ache._

_You aren't that great at conveying plans either._

_That's because I have a loner personality on the battlefield!_

_You assume other people can listen to your thoughts, and you know what they say about what happens when you assume._

_Something about donkeys right?_

_NO! When you assume you make an ass out of 'u' and 'me.'_

_THAT'S WHAT I JUST SAID!_

_BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT IT MEANS!_

_Details, Mamaoru-kun. _She could taste Naruto's demonic chakra emanating from the building, which meant he was either on her team, or he was staying late studying… she didn't recall ever seeing Naruto study, so it was probably the first one. She walked along the halls tracing the demonic chakra to its source. A room with the door slightly ajar, with an eraser stoppered in it. _Should I fall for this just to amuse them? I mean, I know Kakashi does stuff like that for me every once in a while, but I don't want to deal with chalk dust in my hair._

_You could always just pull a counter prank._

_I'm just going to catch it and throw it at Naruto's face… If my hunch is correct this is definitely his idea. _Hikari quickly opened the door and caught the eraser in midair before she rolled into the room and threw the eraser at the blond and orange blur to her left. She heard him crash to the floor before she decided she'd pretend she did that as a lesson. "Laying traps: lesson number one. If the bait is too obvious, your opponent will use your trap against you."

_I'll give you style points for that one._

_It's all about making an entrance, Mamoru-Kun._

"HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Naruto yelled as he picked himself up off the floor with a small rectangle of chalk dust covering the center of his face.

"It is a lesson. If you are indeed going to be Kakashi's students, you should understand that nothing you learn from now on will be easy, and it will often be painful." Hikari noticed that Sakura was trying her best not to blurt out in laughter at blondie's misfortune. Hikari walked over to the chalkboard and hefted two more erasers before she unceremoniously threw them at Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke managed to block it, but was still knocked off balance enough to fall over. Sakura tried to duck, but wasn't fast enough and only managed to cause herself to roll backwards with the force of the blow. "Team dynamics: Lesson number one. Punishment for a failure by one of you, will be suffered by all of you." Hikari opened up one of the windows and began walking up the side of the building. "Meet me on the roof in 20 seconds."

"But we're on the second floor, and the building is five stories high." Sakura complained as she returned herself to a standing position, rubbing the chalk off of her face as she did so.

"Better hurry then, I've already started counting." The three little hatchling genin sprinted out of the room with reckless abandon. "I wonder how long it will take them to realize I don't actually have any authority over them…"

_Are you actually counting?_

_Of course not, that ruling was completely arbitrary, I'm just trying to keep us all entertained while I wait for Kakashi._ Hikari sauntered onto the rooftop as she lifted herself over the wall. She hid a smile beneath her mask as she watched the visibly out of shape genin storm onto the roof. Surprisingly enough, Sakura seemed to be the only one of them who didn't seem to be all that out of breath. "Looks like chasing you around town really helped your stamina, Sakura-Chan." Sakura visibly beamed at the compliment. "However, your chakra pool is still pathetically small though, and you're still very weak." Sakura seemed to deflate immediately, if it were one of those manga Hinata kept around Hikari's house there would be a Sakura sized puddle on the rooftop.

"Why are we here?" Sasuke asked after he regained some of his composure. He knew what happened when you disappointed Hikari's standards set for you. It often involved grueling workouts set to the tune of the most annoyingly cutesy song she could get her hands on. Hikari had managed to find Sasuke's most hated genre after only their second spar… She would probably do pretty well in the Torture and Interrogation Force once she became a jonin now that he thought about it.

"It is quite simple, each of you are going to tell me your strengths and weaknesses; we'll save the actual introductions for when Kakashi shows up." Hikari paused before she turned to look at Sasuke. "If you tell me something like 'I have no weaknesses,' I get to throw you off the roof." Her eyes crinkled in such a way that they could tell that she was smiling behind her mask. "So be sure to think critically. Sakura, you're first."

Sakura panicked for a few seconds before she attempted to slow her rapid breathing. "My greatest strength… I'm pretty smart and I have good chakra control." Sakura turned away from the group slightly. "My weaknesses are Taijutsu and a small chakra pool."

Hikari chuckled. "Excellent, the key to being a good ninja is balance, be fantastic at the things you are good at and count on your teammates to help you with the things you have problems with." Hikari's gaze turned to Naruto. "Alright, loud-mouth. Your turn."

"I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI! MY GREATEST STRENGTH IS MY ENDURANCE AND THE FACT THAT I'LL NEVER GIVE UP! BELIEVE IT!" Naruto screamed as he threw one of his fists into the air.

Hikari picked at her ear to make sure she hadn't gone deaf from the blonde boy's proclamation. "Ok, weakness?"

"I'm… I'm not good at taking tests." Naruto said quietly.

"And?" Hikari intoned, she made it obvious that she was not satisfied with that answer and wanted him to try again.

"I… uh…" Naruto seemed to try to wrack his brain for any of his faults. "I've been told that I am too energetic."

"Brash." Sasuke said.

"No talent for strategy, just run in and punch things." Sakura clarified for her Sasuke-Kun. Naruto seemed to deflate from his teammates words.

"That's fine." Hikari said as she looked at the three genin. "From what I can tell, you seem to balance out each other quite nicely." Her gaze went immediately to her cousin. "Your turn."

"My greatest strength is Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. My greatest weakness." His eyebrow twitched slightly, it was very hard for him to admit that there was something he was not good at. His Uchiha pride was at stake here. "My greatest weakness… I… I don't get along well with others."

"Well, at least you are being honest with yourself." Hikari said as she began combing through her hair with her right hand. It had grown quite long recently, it reached down to the small of her back. She wasn't particularly fond of long hair, but the lady that cut it always wanted to talk, and her voice was so high-pitched and annoying that Hikari often waited till the last possible second.

"Ah, I see I've arrived just in time. My first impression of the three of you… You're all sheep." Kakashi said as he appeared on the rooftop, next to his apprentice.

"No, you haven't. You are actually very late. You're even later than I expected you to be." Hikari sighed, no matter how many times she'd lectured him, he still managed to be late for anything and everything.

"Well, you see, I was lost on the road of life when I came across an old woman carrying a box of homeless kittens, so I resolved myself to find homes for the little cuties." He tossed a small black cat at Hikari. "You're going to have to keep that one."

Hikari was dumbfounded. It felt like her entire worldview was shattering around her. There were two possibilities. One, he actually did the lie that he told her which would make it a true statement as to why he was late (which had never happened before). Two, he stole some mama cat's kitten to mess with her, which meant he was making an effort to participate in Hikari's social dynamic (which had also never happened before). She fumbled around for words incoherently for a few seconds before turning to her sensei. "I CAN'T OWN A CAT! MY BUILDING DOESN'T ALLOW PETS, AND CATS HATE ME!" The cat sleepily purred as it began sucking on its arm in contentment.

"Well, two of those three things are lies. You're going to be moving anyway. If you and Hinata are going to live together, you'll need a place with more bedrooms, otherwise people are going to talk... Also, Hinata is going to need to live at a place that allows dogs, she needs to get more familiar with her pack. I put in a request with boss dog, and he's starting her off with two."

Hikari blushed before she scream-whispered at Kakashi to keep from waking the now sleeping kitten in her arms. "I don't need advice on social implications from you… And Hinata and I don't live together, she just sleeps over sometimes!"

"When was the last time she slept at her own home… and we weren't all on a mission together?" Kakashi asked as he leaned over slightly to be at eye level.

_HE'S ENJOYING THIS! _"I… THAT'S IRRELEVANT." Hikari blushed so hard he could see it through her mask, as she looked down at the cat. "Still, that doesn't mean we live together." Hikari shifted her focus to the three genin on the roof. The two boys were fighting back nosebleeds and obviously trying to think non-dirty thoughts as Sakura blushed heavily and brought one of hands to her mouth and turned away.

"Doesn't matter, you have a cat now, and must take on the responsibilities of being a cat owner. It is your duty!" Kakashi saluted her with the largest grin she'd ever seen on him making its way across his mask. Hikari fumed as he turned his attentions away from her and towards his new batch of genin. "Introductions are in order. Name, likes, dislikes, dreams." He pointed to the pink-haired one whose name escaped him. "Go."

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like…" her heart began beating rapidly as a large blush crept across her cheeks. "Well that is to say…" She started giggling uncontrollably, even though she knew Sasuke hated bubbly girls like this. "I dislike Naruto." She stated as she immediately halted her bubbliness and got back to business. "My dream is to… become stronger for someone." Sakura's blush returned despite herself.

"I see… blondie, it's your turn." He kept his eyes cold and calculating as he surveyed the other genin. The bubbly attitude was surprising from what he'd heard about the kunoichi of the year, but it probably had more to do with the fact that she was next to Sasuke rather than adequately demonstrate her attitude and skills.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Believe it! I like different types of ramen, but my favorite is Miso Pork Ramen from Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. I dislike the wait before I get to eat the ramen. My dream." Naruto paused for effect for a few moments before continuing. "I WILL BE HOKAGE! BELIEVE IT!" He shouted so loudly that they could probably hear him in Suna.

"Hmmm." This was entirely in keeping with what he had heard about the Uzumaki boy. Headstrong with a bit of a stupid side, but it was more endearing than it was off-putting. Like a puppy that's just learning to walk, but thinks it's already king of the dog park. "Alright, broody. You're up."

"I am Sasuke Uchiha. I like training, and I dislike a lot of things. I wouldn't say I have a dream, because I will make it a reality. I am going to kill a certain someone, and restore my clan." Sasuke finished dramatically while keeping his overall tone dark and quiet.

Hikari piped up from the side of the silver-haired cyclopean ninja holding her kitten. "I didn't know you wanted to be a daddy, that's adorable!" Sakura practically fainted as Sasuke blushed. "If you're going to restore your clan, you're going to need to start making babies pretty soon."

Sakura 'eeped' from her position on the ground as Sasuke ran over to Hikari and covered her mouth as he vigorously shook his head back and forth. It was the first time she had seen legitimate horror fill his eyes. She couldn't exactly blame him, he was in close proximity to one of the girls that had designs for his flesh. Naruto was on the ground for an entirely different reason. He was rocking back and forth on his back in a fit of laughter.

"Alright, interesting first impressions. Meet at training field number three at 8 in the morning sharp! I will not tolerate tardiness. Oh, and be sure not to eat anything before you get there. Otherwise, you'll puke." Kakashi said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hikari sighed as she looked at the kitten in her arms. "I guess I'm going to go home and buy some cat stuff before looking for a new place to live." It was only about 5:30, so she could probably do some house reconnaissance with Hinata in order to find out which house they liked best… _HINATA DOESN'T GET A SAY IN WHERE I LIVE._

_She probably will if she agrees to pay off part of the rent. Then it'd be her house too._

_You were just as entertained by that as Kakashi was weren't you?_

_No… Yes._

* * *

><p>"I'm home!" Hikari yelled as she entered her apartment. She didn't know if anyone else was going to be there, but it was safe to assume someone was. She would've set up traps to keep the interlopers at bay, but she liked the company even if she disliked the breaking and entering.<p>

"Welcome back!" Three voices chimed in reply. One of which was definitely male.

_This is getting ridiculous._

_I know, this is just the worst harem ever. They just drink our tea and eat food._

_I'm not letting you read any more of Hinata's picture books. _(a/n: it is manga, but Hikari calls it that to annoy Hinata and Mamoru)_  
><em>

_NO, PLEASE!_

She walked into her living room to find Kankuro fiddling with his puppet on her coffee table while Hinata and Temari sipped at their tea and resumed their small talk at the kitchen table. "KANKURO! How many times do I have to tell you that you can't just come in here, do constructions and modifications to your puppets and use my poisons?!"

Kankuro sighed before he reached into his bag and pulled out two boxes of dango. "Fine. This enough for your newest little experiments?" He noticed the sleeping black kitten that Hikari was holding that was in the process of cuddling into the crook of her arm. "When'd you get that?"

"Literally ten minutes ago." Hikari placed the kitten on Kankuro's head before she grabbed the boxes and experimentally weighed their contents with her hands. "You holding out on me?" She crooked her eyebrow towards Kankuro.

"I had to give a box to Hinata or she wouldn't let me in…" Kankuro said with a hint of shame while he carefully maintained his balance to ensure the little creature didn't fall from its perch.

"I see… Hinata, you're buying the next batch!" Hikari yelled as she brought the boxes into the kitchen before munching on one of the sticks happily. She pulled out one of her drawers, and pushed the hidden button under the counter. A small square on the wall to her right pushed itself out from the wall as she began applying chakra to various points in order to stimulate the seals she had hidden behind the paint. The square protrusion disappeared, revealing a hidden compartment where she kept some of her most deadly poisons. She removed two small blue vials and carefully placed them before Kankuro. "If you manage to get this into your bloodstream… It was nice knowing you." She pretended to wipe a few tears away from her eyes.

"So what does this newest toy do?" Kankuro asked as he lifted it to the light and began experimentally tilting the contents back and forth to check its viscosity.

"Get it into an opponent's bloodstream and they'll begin bleeding out of every orifice in 20 minutes." Hikari said nonchalantly as she removed the kitten from its position on Kankuro in order to take it to the table for the girls to examine.

"Are you going to give me the anti-poison?" Kankuro asked as he placed the first vial back on the table.

"One of them is the anti-poison." Hikari stated while the girls were playing with the newest little arrival.

"These things are identical!" Kankuro yelled as he began continued observing the second blue vial. "How am I supposed to know which one is which?"

"Trial and error." Hikari said with a smile. "Science."

"You three make it a game to see who can make my life more miserable, don't you?" Kankuro sighed as he returned his attentions to his puppet.

"Yep!" The three kunoichi said simultaneously.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Hinata." Hikari said after her other guests had left for tonight. "I'm going to have to move to an apartment complex that allows pets, or maybe an actual house."<p>

"I know." Hinata tossed two folders she seemingly pulled out of thin air to Hikari. "Sensei told me about it a week ago. One folder is for two-bedroom apartments near the outskirts of town, which allow pets, and give clan members' priority rent. The other is for four-bedroom, four-bath houses that we can already afford if we share payments, they also said they could give us lower interest payments because of our status as clan heirs… I didn't tell them that it was you, so I think that they assume Sasuke and I are buying a house together." Hikari chuckled before adding. "Although, I wouldn't even dare try coming between Pinky and her prey."

Hikari looked through the dossiers with mouth agape. "Why four bedrooms? ARE YOU PREGNANT? IS IT MINE?!" Hikari's face was flush with false urgency as she put her face next to Hinata's stomach. "That would explain a lot…"

Hinata punched the top of Hikari's head. "NO! But if either of us wants kids, but don't want to move out we have plenty of space to expand. Also, at the rate you pick up strays, we'll run out of room in no time."

"Hey, last time I checked you were my first little stray I picked up." Hikari scoffed. "Look where being nice has gotten me. A sassy roommate and friends who routinely break into my house."

"And a cat."

"AND A CAT." Hikari sighed as she flipped through the dossiers containing the potential houses. "My house is going to smell like cats, dogs, snakes, and poison. What a winning combination that is."

"If you don't want me living there you could just say so. You don't have to be snarky about it." Hinata averted her eyes from Hikari's gaze. "It's not like you have to do this."

Hikari's eyes softened. She cared about Hinata far too much, it was going to get one of them in trouble one day; she could feel it. "Of course I don't, but I've grown accustomed to having you as a roommate, and I am absolutely abysmal at the intricacies of purchasing housing… I don't know what half of these terms even mean." Hikari's eyes darted back to the information in her hands. "Nope. I regret to inform you, that I am forced into keeping you around. Sorry, Kohai."

She felt Hinata's arms wrap around her back as the smaller girl pressed her face into Hikari's chest. She awkwardly returned the hug before petting the top of her Kohai's head. Ever since Hinata had signed the dog summoning scroll, she had become much more appreciative of that kind of affection (Hikari swore that one time Hinata had actually started kicking while Hikari did this). Hinata let out a contented sigh. "Good, we move in tomorrow. I have all the paperwork signed and at the ready." Hinata quickly pulled herself from the embrace and ran into Hikari's bedroom, closing the door behind her before Hikari even had a chance to react.

_What just happened?_

_You got played, girl._

_Where do you learn these expressions? I didn't teach them to you._

_I didn't choose the snake-life. The snake-life chose me._

_I don't even know what that means…_

* * *

><p>Hikari entered her new house at 9 in the morning, Hinata said that a group of genin would be moving all of her stuff in while they were doing their training. Of course, that being said Hikari still moved all of her poisons and weaponry herself. The kitten bounded into its new home, intent on discovering its secrets (as well as the best places to nap no doubt). The house was much bigger than Hikari had originally anticipated. The front door opened up into a sizable living areakitchen that led to two hallways to the left and right. Each side possessed 2 bedrooms, with adjoining bathrooms as well as an additional room that could be turned into a play room (or perhaps poison development lab). The backyard was spacious, and the previous owners of the house had set up a small vegetable and herb garden in the back left center. Hikari wasn't particularly good at cultivating plants, but she knew how to turn them into poisons and antidotes so that probably counted for something.

Hikari placed her box full of death causing agents on the kitchen countertop. It probably wasn't the wisest of choices, but she would move it momentarily anyways. She heard a knock at her door. Hikari sighed heavily. "How do I already have guests? Nobody knows I live here." There was another knock on the door. "Yea, yea. I'm coming!" Hikari said exasperatedly. She started opening the door as she let out another tired response. "Why does everyone have to be so damn-zo-Sama!" Hikari quickly stood at full attention when she realized who her visitor was. "Lovely to see you. Would you like some tea?"

"No, I've come to congratulate you on your recent purchase." Danzo said with his typical curtness.

"Aw, no presents this time?" Hikari asked disappointedly. Typically when Danzo paid her a visit, he would bring her an impressively titled book about the art of sealing. She didn't understand how he seemed to know exactly when she finished the other one, but she wasn't one to look at a gift horse (or something like that).

"Not presents. Investments in your future." Danzo corrected. "Konoha hasn't seen a seal master of your caliber at such a young age in a long time. It would be foolish of me to let you squander your talent."

"So, is that a yes to the present then?" Hikari smiled behind her mask. "I have gotten a couple of new poisons for you if you do." Hikari said, as if she was trying to be tempting.

Danzo stoically removed a journal from some hidden compartment in his robe. "I want you to understand, that it is imperative that this not fall into enemy hands. In fact, do not be seen publically with this. It belonged to the fourth Hokage, and contains one of the most advanced seals that has ever been created, and has yet to be replicated."

Hikari's eyes brightened. "Wow…" She looked at the book reverently, as if she had just been shown the holy tome of all things sealing. This was something physical that belonged to him. Her first human friend. She would have started crying if it wasn't for the fact that Danzo was standing in front of her. "I-Thank you, Danzo-Sama." Her voice cracked in spite of herself. "You don't realize what this means to me."

"Like I said. Consider it an investment in your future." Danzo handed her the journal. "I'll have someone stop by to pick up the poisons at a later date." He turned around and began walking back towards town. "My offer still stands, of course. Konoha needs ninja like you."

"Of course, once I've finished my apprenticeship with Kakashi, you will be the first person I speak to about it." Hikari bowed as she shut the door behind the well-bandaged man.

_I always get chills when you talk to that guy._

_Yea, well he's an old retired ninja. We're lucky he's as sane as he is. Most of the people we know are much crazier than him, and a third as old._

_You do have an excellent point… still. _

Hikari excitedly took the journal into the room she had claimed as her own. Of course, Hinata and she would still end up sharing a room. They did only own one bed, and the house did bite into an incredibly significant chunk of their savings.

_Oh yea, that's the reason. It has nothing to do with the fact that you have chronic nightmares._

_Look, I don't make fun of the fact that you don't have hands, you don't make fun of the fact that I like having someone around when I have nightmares._

_You just like cuddling._

_Ninjas don't cuddle._

_Oh yea, of course you don't, you and Hinata aren't cuddling. The two of you wrapping your arms around each other while you sleep is something totally different._

_Shut up. We need to focus on this book, if it really is what Danzo said, then this is going to get really fun._

_You're changing the topic._

* * *

><p>She poured over the journal for as long as she dared before it was imperative that she get to training field three. The contents were so gloriously complicated. The person who had written this journal detailing the creation of some kind of new seal using shorthand within shorthand. Meaning that even if she was one of the most brilliant seal master in Konoha, she would have to find a way to decode the assorted messages found within, and even after decoding them, she would have to make sure that he didn't put anything fallacious inside of the journal in order to "trap" someone who was trying to replicate his jutsu. It might be something as simple as an inverted seal that is close enough to the original that it is nearly indistinguishable from the original, but doesn't work, or it could be an entire false sealing set, that when activated with the rest of the seal causes you to explode, or turn inside out, or become trapped in a transportation seal… she would have to be extra careful.<p>

Hikari noticed that it was nearly 11 already and grudgingly hid the journal inside of a transport seal on her left forearm. She looked over the intricate seal work that crisscrossed its way along the length of her arms. It wasn't so much a fashion statement as it was useful. The summoning tattoo on her left arm, circling up to her elbow, the various sealing arrays she had tattooed onto her right arm so that she wouldn't have to carry any of her poisons inside of her kunai pouch, as well as have all of her sealing brushes and inks all in one convenient place. It had a tendency to scare the locals, but she scared the locals regardless, so it hardly mattered.

Hikari made her way into the training field and stood in front of the black stone monument referred to as the "Memeorial Stone." Hikari traced her finger along the name of the only person she knew on the stone. "Minato Namikaze." Hikari stated as her thumb slid over the markings of his name. "Would you be proud of me?" She paused for a second and took in a deep breath. "I wish I knew more about you… that I remembered more about you. You had spiky hair, a friendly face, and you encouraged me to learn." Hikari placed her palm to the stone and looked down. "Is this something you'd want me to do? I am devoting myself to the Will of Fire, because it is what you died protecting, but I don't know the best way to do it. Would you hate me because I am choosing the dark path, or would you celebrate the fact that I am willing to do it to protect the people I care about most." Hikari's palm curled up into a fist and she withdrew it from the stone before sitting down in front of it. "I don't want to see them suffer anymore, Minato. If I help them walk in the light, would that be good enough?" Her eyes dropped to the seal that contained his journal on her arm. "Sasuke and Naruto… they have so much potential. I want to see Naruto become the Hokage. I want to see Sasuke fulfilled, happy, and with a small family. If I have to travel the dark path to make it happen then so be it." Hikari's eyes hardened as she saw Kakashi leading the group of genin towards the Memorial Stone. "I will be the fuel on which Konoha's Will of Fire bursts into life, and if it consumes me in the process, then I will welcome my addition to this stone with open arms."

_Do you realize you were monologuing?_

_I was conversing with the memorial stone, which is totally different._

_Well, lucky you. You get to be the exception all the time._

_I WAS HAVING A MOMENT AND YOU'VE RUINED IT!_

Hikari stood and her hardened gaze softened as her teacher appeared next to her by the Memorial stone. "How do you like the kitten?" Kakashi smiled so broadly she could see it even with his mask.

"Small and fluffy. It is too adorable for me to stay mad at it for long." Hikari turned her gaze to her sensei. "Which is much more than I can say for you."

"You wound me." Kakashi joked as he placed his hand over his heart before returning his attentions to his genin team. "Today, the three of you will be taking a bit of a test." Kakashi placed a clock from seeming out of nowhere. "The clock is set for noon." Kakashi pulled out two bells and held them out in front of him. "Your assignment is very simple. The three of you, are going to try to take these two bells... From Hikari." He said as he tossed them to his apprentice, who deftly snatched them out of the air. "If you can't get it by noon you will go without lunch, I will tie you to those posts while we eat our lunch in front of you."

"Hey, wait a second, there is three of us, why are there only two bells?" Sakura asked.

Hikari chuckled before she placed her attention at the bells in front of her. "Because it means that at least one of you is going to fail."

"Exactly, and the ones who fail are going to be sent back to the Academy. Of course, it is entirely possible that all three of you could flunk out. Everything is permissible while you are fighting her. If you don't aim to kill her, you aren't going to be able to take her bells." He shifted his attention back to his apprentice. "You can deactivate your gravity seals and use your Sharingan, you can bruise them, but try to avoid breaking them if you can."

Hikari understood that Kakashi was attempting to use psychological warfare against her opponents. It wasn't that she needed to remove her handicaps in order to fight them, it was that she was allowed to remove them to make it more difficult for the new genin. Smart. _Two could play the intimidation game. "_No promises." Hikari said as her expression darkened. "You know what happens when I get bored." Hikari pulsed her chakra and felt the weight that was constantly pressed on her every movement abate. She experimentally cracked knuckles and stretched the muscles. She hadn't been allowed to turn those off in a long time, and the relief was wonderful.

Kakashi grinned almost imperceptibly. "Your battle begins now. START!"

The three graduates quickly moved into the surrounding forest to take up hiding places around the training ground. Hikari nonchalantly walked towards the lake at the center of the field as she tucked the bells into her waist. Sakura's Taijutsu was terrible, so it was doubtful that the girl would get to her by normal means. Sasuke's was good, but he lacked her speed and experience. Naruto was an unknown to her, she had never seen him fight an opponent, never seen his style of combat, but he was last in his class for a reason. He was probably somewhere in the middle ground the more she thought about it.

"Ninja must know how to conceal their movements and hide effectively." Kakashi said from his seated position at the memorial stone. He didn't even take the time to look up from his book when he said that.

Hikari scanned the tree line for the students. They were hiding very well, if she didn't already know that they were in there, she might have even been fooled. Of course, she could also sense the relative positions from their chakra, so she was kinda cheating. "YOU AND ME! RIGHT NOW FAIR AND SQUARE! LET'S GO!" Naruto said from in front of her.

Hikari sighed in exasperation. "You really aren't one for patience and strategy." Naruto charged at her while yelling something about 'Believing it!' before he threw a rather pitifully weak punch at her. She blocked it with her hand before ducking and kicking out with her left foot, throwing the blond haired boy off balance as she sent him tumbling into the lake. "Kakashi, do I get to say stuff like 'Lesson number one,' or is that your jurisdiction?" Kakashi waved her off as he put his nose back into his book. "Sweet. Taijutsu: lesson one. Be aware of your environment, and how you can use it to your advantage."

Two shuriken came flying from the water. She deflected them with her senbon with a simple flick of her wrist. Naruto slowly pulled himself out of the water. "Alright, that time, you caught me off guard, but that's it! BELIEVE IT!"

Hikari turned around and began walking away. "In the field, if you are caught off guard, you can get yourself or others killed. There is no room for not being ready."

Suddenly, seven different Narutos emerged from the water and began charging her. "Bet you weren't expecting this! Shadow Clone Jutsu! MY BEST ATTACK."

Hikari smiled from behind her mask. Shadow Clones. _That would definitely make this fight more interesting. Too bad I'm not going to let them get close. _Hikari threw a series of senbon, carefully hitting each of the Narutos in the shoulder with them. That way, even if she did hit the real one, she didn't risk any permanent damage to him.

The clones disappeared into a large puff of smoke that obscured her vision. Hikari palmed a few more senbon just as an entire new set of clones emerged from the smoke of the last ones. _Using the smoke from the clones as a screen to keep me from seeing the real him. He's either smarter than I give him credit for, or he did it on accident. _Hikari once again threw her senbon into the crowd of clones. Falling back in order to put a bit more distance between herself and the smoke. When she backpedaled into one of Naruto's clones who had exited the river and was trying to sneak up on her. She quickly incapacitated the clone before disappearing in her own puff of smoke.

Naruto exited from his smokescreen. "Scared you off, eh?" He noticed a glint of sunlight and his eyes traced it back to one of the bells. He excitedly ran over to it and reached his hand out to grab it.

"Striking Shadow Snakes!" Hikari yelled as 10 snakes wrapped themselves around Naruto and pulled him into the tree, coming face to face with Hikari's mask (he was upside down though). "Laying traps: Lesson two. If the bait is obvious… don't take it." She flicked Naruto on the nose before she jumped from the tree and picked up the bell. She released the snakes and sent Naruto tumbling to the ground with an unceremonious thud. "I told you yesterday, that if the bait was obvious, you should use it against them."

"I GET THAT!"

Hikari threw a handful of senbon that perfectly framed Naruto's face into the tree behind him. "I'm telling you again because you don't get it. You think that you get it, but that is not the same as actually getting it… get it?"

Several shuriken flew from the tree and were headed in a perfect trajectory to kill Hikari if she didn't move out of the way. The shuriken found their mark. Before passing through her harmlessly. "A CLONE?!" Sasuke said as he began making his way to a new hiding spot. "She used a regular clone jutsu and a basic genjutsu in order to make us think she had left one of the bells on the ground, when she was actually hiding in the tree. She made it just real enough to fool all of us into thinking she lowered her guard."

Hikari almost instantaneously appeared next to him. "Quite bright, Sasuke-Kun. I am very excited I get to see you think like a ninja." The two of them slid to a halt in a small clearing. "But you aren't planning enough ahead." Suddenly four Hikari clones fell from the trees and began fighting Sasuke four to one. Sasuke nimbly dodged the Hikari clones as his hands went through a series of hand signs.

"Fire Styl-" was as far as he got before the real Hikari pulled his hair back, causing him to look straight up into the sky as she punched him in the stomach. Forcing the air out of his lungs and making him struggle to breath.

"If you are in a life or death battle. Don't tell your opponent your intentions." She released him from her grip and he fell to the floor coughing. "Even if I hadn't had you outnumbered, you took far too long putting your hand signs together. It told me exactly what you planned to do, before you could do it. Giving me a chance to engage in a preemptive strike." Hikari looked down on her cousin and smiled. "Not bad for a newbie though."

He struck out his fist and attempted to strike her in the stomach while reaching out to grab one of the bells with his other hand. She kicked away his strike and caught the other arm with her hand before she pulled him towards her. She poked his head with two fingers. "Dead." Sasuke looked up confused when he noticed Hikari's Sharingan swirl into life. Sasuke felt his entire body catch fire, and watched as his flesh burned away. Sloughing off of his bones before those two were blackened by the intensity of flames engulfing him. He screamed in pain as he felt the intense heat bring him to the brink of death. He blinked, and the world was as it once was. He was breathing heavily, but he was intact and his body was free of burns. "Genjutsu." Sasuke said before collapsing on the ground and losing consciousness.

Hikari walked over and lifted Sasuke into her arms before she started her walk back to the memorial stone. Her clones dispersed to go find Sakura and Naruto. She brought him in front of Kakashi and carefully placed the boy down on the ground. "I might have gotten a little carried away. He'll be fine in a couple of minutes. I toned down the intensity."

"Well, aren't you a saint." He said uninterestedly as he turned the pages of his book.

"Have you read 'Makeout Domination' yet?" Hikari asked as she sat down next to her sensei. "I'm not as big a fan of the bondage scenes, but I feel like it has one of the strongest narratives of the series."

"Of course I have… don't you have a job you should be doing?" An explosion went off in the distance followed by Naruto saying something unintelligible followed by 'Believe it!'

"My clones can take care of it for now. They only have five minutes left, and Sakura isn't doing a very good job of sneaking behind this rock." Hikari heard a surprised 'Eep!' as Sakura began scuttling away from her. "Striking Shadow Snake." Hikari said unenthusiastically before ten of her snakes shout out from her arm and wrapped themselves around Sakura. Dragging her back in front of the both of them before flipping her upside down. There wasn't a real reason to do the upside down part, put it made the victim feel even worse about themselves. "Now then. Tell me your grand scheme to get the bells."

Sakura blushed and avoided eye contact. "I was going to try to steal them while your back was turned and you were talking to Kakashi-Sensei about your porn."

"Well, at least you are exploiting a weakness you know about your opponent. Which is more than I can say about Naruto right about now." Two clones appeared at the edge of the forest and tossed the blonde-haired boy over towards the memorial stone. Landing right on top of Sasuke.

This woke Sasuke up, and the two of them began arguing and fighting with each other. "LOSER!" "DOUCHEBAG!" and "IDIOT!" were some of the more kind things said between the two of them. Hikari sighed and released Sakura from her snakes grasp before she looked at the clock.

"I must say, I'm quite disappointed in the three of you." Kakashi said as he turned another page of his book. "I was certain that you guys were going to realize the purpose of this exercise, but you didn't. So, it's decided, I' m not sending any of you back to the Academy." Naruto and Sakura began excitedly jumping around while Sasuke just gave a small smirk. "Because all three of you are being dropped from the program, permanently." He closed his book and looked at the genin.

"WHAT!? THAT'S NOT FAIR! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! YOU SAID WE'D BE PUT BACK IN THE ACADEMY! YOU CAN'T JUST CHANGE THE DEAL LIKE THAT!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Of course he can." Hikari said, temporarily shutting up the blond haired genin. "Not only did all of you fail to retrieve one of the bells from me, you also failed to recognize the true purpose of what he was trying to get you to do here." Hikari paused to see if realization would dawn on any of their faces, when it didn't she continued. "None of you are even close to being strong enough to fight me on your own."

Sasuke angrily charged at her, but ended up being floored by Kakashi as he placed his foot on the boys head and pinned the boys arm behind his back. Which was followed immediately by Sakura saying something about stepping on 'her Sasuke-kun.' "You don't understand what it means to be real ninja. It's all just a game to you. Did you ever wonder why it was we put you on squads? Did you even ponder that idea for one moment?" Kakashi said angrily. Hikari had never seen her sensei so impassioned, he typically went along with things with disinterested good-naturedness, but this… this was something he cared about.

"Why would we know? We didn't make the rules here!" Naruto exclaimed.

"It's basic teamwork!" Kakashi said, still sitting on Sasuke's back.

"But, if we were working together, one of us would have still not gotten the bells." Sakura said.

"Correct, but if all three of you had fought Hikari, you might have been able to take the bells from her, but I purposely pitted the three of you against each other. I wanted to see if you would overcome that and put the squad ahead of yourselves, but you were all too busy thinking about how you were going to get yourself a bell." Kakashi's voice softened for a second. "When an individual puts themselves ahead of the squad, it could lead to failure and death." He pulled out a kunai and placed it at Sasuke's throat. "Sakura, battle Naruto to the death, or I slit Sasuke's throat." Sakura and Naruto exchanged urgent glances. "That's the kind of thing that can happen on a mission. The enemy take a hostage and you are forced to make an impossible decision and someone ends up dead."

Kakashi put his kunai back into his pouch as he got off of Sasuke and turned his attention to the Memorial Stone. Hikari stood up and walked in front of the genin. "Every mission that you take out of the village, your lives are on the line, and if you make even a single mistake, you and your teammates could end up dead." She helped Sasuke back to a standing position.

"Did you take a look at what was written on this stone? The names engraved on it?" Kakashi asked as he leaned over and began examining a very specific part of the Memorial Stone. His voice became soft and full of sadness. "They are all ninja, who are honored as heroes in our village."

"THAT'S IT, THAT'S IT, THAT'S IT! NOW I KNOW! I'M GOING TO GET MY NAME ENGRAVED ON THAT STONE! I'M GOING TO BE A HERO!" Naruto said excitedly.

Hikari turned her attention to him. "It is the names of the ninja who were killed while performing their duties. Shinobi who gave their lives for the sake of the mission…" Hikari's eyes focused on Sasuke. "or for the sake of their loved ones."

"This is the Memorial Stone. The names of all my closest friends are engraved on this." He said. Hikari turned her attention to her sensei. He had never mentioned this. She had assumed that he had lot someone, you don't become a shinobi for as long as he had without someone you know dying, but she didn't know the severity of it. "I'm going to give you one more chance, but it's going to be much harder." Ropes suddenly entangled Naruto as he was forced back onto the pillar. "Naruto, you will not get lunch because you were the last person who made it here. It's a punishment for your tardiness." Hikari almost collapsed from the sheer hypocrisy of it all. "Also, I only bought two lunches. If any of you try to feed him, that person will immediately fail. I make the rules, you follow them." He said as he tossed the other two genin their lunches. "Hikari, follow me." He left the three genin next to the memorial stone and walked to the edge of the forest with Hikari at his heels.

The two of them hid at the edge of the forest as they watched the genin eat. "Sensei…How many precious people did you lose?" Hikari asked while attempting to avoid eye contact.

"Five." Kakashi said monotonely.

"Did it hurt?" Hikari asked as she turned her gaze from the genin and looked at the ground. "Did losing them make you stronger?"

Kakashi exhaled. "It still hurts… I don't know if I became stronger because I lost them. I think I became stronger so I wouldn't have to lose anyone else."

"That's almost poetic. For a second there I almost forgot how annoying you are." Hikari chuckled as she returned her attention to the genin, who were seconds away from breaking the rules.

"Almost? You really are slipping, Hikari. You were almost a nice person for a second." Kakashi smiled as he also returned his attention to the genin.

"Well, we both made mistakes… wanna make our grand entrance?" Hikari asked as she watched Sakura grudgingly feed Naruto. She looked and saw a huge plume of smoke appear in front of the Memorial Stone, as storm clouds began to form overhead. "The bastard started without me!"

Hikari shunshined next to Kakashi in a flurry of leaves and plastered on an angry face as Kakashi prepared to yell at his students. "YOU! You broke the rules! I hope your ready for the punishment." He began going through the motions of a jutsu as Hikari began imitating his hand signs in exact detail. Lightning began to arch across the sky. "Any last words?" Kakashi asked as his voice dripped killing intent.

"But-But you said that there were three of us! That's what you said!" Naruto screamed. "So that's why Sakura…" Naruto trailed off.

"We are all in this squad, and we are all in this together!" Sasuke said as he put his body in between Naruto and Kakahsi's.

"Yea! The three of us are one!" Sakura said as she emulated Sasuke's pose between Kakashi and Naruto.

"The three of you are one!? That's your excuse?" Kakashi asked as he leaned forward. The three genin stood in combat ready poses. Kakashi smiled. "Then, you pass." Hikari released her jutsu and confetti began flying out of a transport seal she had thrown while Kakashi was yelling at the genin.

"Huh?" The three genin asked as they began getting showered in a comically large amount of confetti.

"You passed." Kakashi said. "All the other students I've ever given this test to did exactly what I said and fell into every trap. A ninja must see through deception." Kakashi said as the sky began to clear above them. "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

Naruto started tearing up a bit. "He's-He's kinda cool."

Hikari cut him down from the log. "He really is, but don't let him hear you say that. It'll only make him more annoying."

"I heard you."

"Damn."


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note:

Greetings and salutations once again! I realize it hasn't been that long since my last update, but I really wanted to get this one done :D LUCKY YOU. I've really been enjoying what it is that I've been doing, and I hope that you guys and galls enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Give it a review if you enjoy, I really appreciate them. TTFN, ta ta for now.

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 15

The month of D-Rank missions was going to be exceptionally boring. Luckily for Hikari, she didn't actually have to do them. While the newbies were busy cleaning the rivers, or walking dogs, or finding different ways to skin a cat, she got to spend that time training in chakra control, a new jutsu she was working on, her cat that she hadn't made a name for yet, and most importantly, deciphering the fourth Hokage's journal.

Every second of free time Hikari possessed she spent reading and rereading the intricacies of the seal master's writings. She'd managed to decode a very small fraction of the entire journal, but had managed to determine that it contained some sort of reverse-summoning seal. In which the user summons himself to a target location, but it wasn't that simple. There were levels of detail and intrigue beyond that little fact, which meant she was only scratching the surface, which excited her exponentially.

Hikari noticed the time and realized that her team would be done with their daily D-rank mission, which meant that she would be expected to train them. Hikari placed the journal down on her bed and used a hand seal. She felt her chakra change from its usual fiery inferno into a raging torrent. She felt the water natured chakra flow across her body, cooling her. Hikari quickly enacted a series of hand signs, as three water clones emerged from her bathroom. "Go tell Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke that their training today will consist of them trying to catch you. Tell them something about it being endurance training… or something like that." The three clones nodded and left the room, silently.

Hikari had only managed to decode half of the actual coding. Which meant she hadn't even gotten to the fun part of actually developing the sealing array yet. She had a very general idea of how the seal was designed to function, but that wouldn't be of any use to her. Hikari activated her Sharingan and continued her process of memorizing every single page of the journal. _This way, even if Danzo asks for it back before I'm done, I'll have every page burned into my memory._

_How much sealing information do you keep in that head of yours?_

_Probably much more than I'll ever use, but if we are ever in a fuinjutsu-based anything, I should be able to get us out of it._

_That's reassuring…_

It took her six hours to assimilate the rest of the information in the journal. She hadn't even realized she had failed to leave the apartment for the entire day, nor did she realize that her cat had been sleeping on her head the entire time either. Kakashi was going to give her an earful for sure. "How could you make me teach my own students?" Which wasn't even a good guilt trip. They were his students, she shouldn't be the one who teaches them to walk up trees, throw their projectiles properly, and make them eat dirt while sparring… she didn't intentionally cause them to eat dirt, but when they fall face first into mud, it's kind of impossible for them not to.

"I'm back!" She heard Hinata yell from the entryway. Hikari quickly sealed the journal away before heading out of her room. "You look terrible. Did you even shower today?" She hadn't, but that didn't mean she was going to take that insult when Hinata was bruised and covered in dirt and sweat from her training with the Byakugan guy.

"You don't look much better yourself." Hikari scoffed. "How was training?"

"Terrible." Hikari sighed as she entered the kitchen and started making the two of them some tea. "The guy has no imagination. All of the stuff he teaches is 100% by the book. No room for improvisation or improvements, because 'you can't improve perfection, and the Hyuga are perfect.'" Hinata adopted a false deep tone when she repeated the last part before scoffing. "His moves might have been fast, but they were depressingly predictable. Any high ranking shinobi worth their salt who has fought a Hyuga before would realize exactly what he was trying to do, counter him, and then kill him."

"I'm sure he looks down upon your mildly adapted style you picked up from sparring with me for so long." Hikari sighed. "Are all clans like that or is it just the Hyuga? I find it foolish that you would practice a single fighting style to the exclusion of all others, because it means that if anyone finds your weakness, your entire family is screwed." Hikari said as she stretched out her arms and continued to ruminate on Minato's journal. Page after page after page after page.

"Well, I don't know if we necessarily have a weakness to exploit." Hinata said as she began pouring them some tea.

"The Byakugan has a blind spot that you attempt to mitigate by including rotation into your fighting styles." Hikari said as she picked up her tea and began sipping at it. "I am not 100% sure where it is located, but I know it is somewhere on the back of the neck."

Hinata started choking on her tea. "That's a clan secret, you can't let anyone know you know about that!" Hinata said urgently. "How did you find out?"

"I've been sparring with two Hyuga clan members for 6 years, and on top of that I have the Sharingan." Hikari pointed to her eye with one finger. "If I hadn't figured it out I wouldn't be worth any salt." Hikari paused for a moment. "Is that how that expression goes? Does it only apply when used to speak about other people?"

Hinata giggled. "It's close enough." Her expression grew serious once more. "Make sure you don't tell anyone about that. If the Hyuga family council found out that you knew, they could make your life all kinds of trouble, and they'd assume that I told you. Which would mean that I was handing out clan secrets to other shinobi." Hinata's eyes started to fill with panic as her cup clattered to the counter. "PEOPLE DIE FOR DOING STUFF LIKE THAT."

Hikari began slowly patting her kohai's head. "Relax." Her breathing steadied and then slowed. "I'm only going to tell everyone I see, it's not even going to be a problem." Hinata tried to tackle her sempai to the ground, but Hikari wasn't already sore from practicing Taijutsu all day, so she easily pinned Hinata to the floor. Hikari straddled her kohai and held the girl's hands up over her head. "Kidding, Hinata. I shall take these Hyuga secrets to my grave!" Hikari said with a faux deep voice. "After all, I do have stake in keeping the Hyuga clan strong. Your family might have an enormous stick shoved up their collective rectum, but you have your moments… That expression is really gross." Hikari released Hianta's hands from her grip, but remained in her seated position atop her kohai's stomach. "Are you sure you aren't pregnant?"

"HIKARI!"

* * *

><p>Hikari was laying down in front of the Memorial Stone at Training Ground Six. Ruminating on the contents of the journal she had memorized. Her students (and they were her students when Kakashi wasn't around) would be showing up in a few minutes. No doubt they would complain about how boring D-rank missions were, followed immediately by a chastisement of Naruto's latest screw up. He obviously wasn't designed for civilian work. She would have told her team that they could have used Naruto's shadow clones to do all of the menial work, but it was their job, and if they didn't learn to utilize their resources, they wouldn't become great ninja. The fact that it gave her more time to work on the seal was just icing on that particular cake.<p>

"What you doing?" Kakashi asked as he appeared next to her standing in front of the memorial stone. He had surprised her, but she was good enough at concealing her emotions that she could pretend she hadn't been.

"I could say the same to you. Are you going to actually train your students today? If you are, I've scheduled water walking on the itinerary." Hikari said nonchalantly.

"You've developed an itinerary?" Kakashi only sounded moderately surprised.

"Nope. It does sound like a good thing to know though. Why don't they teach the tree walking thing at the Academy? It's only incredibly important." Hikari stared up at the clouds, it was a boringly clear day. There wasn't a point in cloud watching if there wasn't any clouds.

"We have a C-ranked mission tomorrow." Kakashi said as he moved his attention back to the stone in front of him. "It's in the land of waves. Typical escort mission."

Hikari closed her eyes and put her hands behind her head. _It's about time we get some real missions. If it wasn't for the journal I would have died of boredom. _"Details?"

"Tomorrow, 8 in the morning, it isn't far from the Konoha, but we will be traveling at civilian speed, so pack enough for about five days."

"Our little students are finally going to become real shinobi. I feel like it was just yesterday, we were packing their lunches and wishing them good luck at school." Hikari chuckled.

When she opened her eyes Kakashi was already gone. Hikari smiled to herself. It was just too easy getting under his skin. For whatever reason Kakashi had a rather intense aversion to making friends, and would go out of his way to avoid personal topics. It was a rare moment of vulnerability that Kakashi had told her about how many people he had on that memorial stone. She realized how very little she knew about her sensei. She didn't know if he had any friends besides his 'eternal rival,' and even that seemed more like Kakashi being long-suffering than actual friendship.

Hikari moved her hand to her mask and began to move her fingers against the fabric. The annoying, childish Kakashi was so obviously a mask that he chooses to wear, but she wondered what he was really like behind it. She understood why someone would wear a mask. She'd been wearing them her entire life after all.

* * *

><p>"ALRIGHT!" Naruto yelled as the five of them passed through the gate. "It's our first mission out of Konoha, I am a traveler now!"<p>

Hikari's attention moved to the old man they would be escorting to the land of waves. He smelled like alcohol and had done nothing except complain about the fact that the people he had paid to protect them were 'a bunch of kids.' "Am I supposed to trust my life to this runt? He's a joke." He drawled.

Kakashi was about to say something before Hikari stepped in. "I wouldn't worry, there is much more to a shinobi that meets the eye." Hikari pointed to Sakura. "That little girl could kill you before you had a chance to blink." She could say that because there was no way he'd be able to know that she was lying. Her students might be good fighters, but they hadn't been trained to be killers yet. Unlike her. She started walking in the direction of the land of waves. "So you better watch who you insult. That 'runt' is going to be Hokage someday."

The bridge builder, who she had been told was named Tazuna, eyed Sakura warily. Kakashi began following after Hikari. "It'll be four days before we reach the land of wave. Let's at least try to be civil." The genin formed a triangle formation around the bridge builder. Sakura at the back with Sasuke and Naruto at either side. Kakashi was lazily walking in the back of the formation while Hikari took point.

They were walking for a few minutes when Sakura began questioning Tazuna about why he hadn't hired ninja from the Land of Waves to escort him back to his home. At which point Kakashi explained the dynamics of minor villages, as well as detailed the five nations that were considered "The five great shinobi Villages." Detailing how the five Kages were representative of thousands of ninja. It was an elementary explanation, but it would suffice.

Sakura and Naruto scowled and seemed to be thinking about something. "HEY! You all just doubted Hokage-Sama didn't you? That what you were thinking?" Naruto and Sakura bristled before they began to nervously shake their heads back and forth. "Well, you aren't going to be fighting any enemy ninja on a C-ranked mission, so we don't have to worry about that."

* * *

><p>It was a few hours before Hikari sensed an enemy presence. Hikari's eyes shifted to Kakashi's and he gave her a subtle signal that he was also aware of their presence. Hikari turned her eyes to the puddle at the center of the road and smirked behind her mask. She turned her head away from the obvious ploy and waited for their opponents to make their moves.<p>

She heard the rattling of a chain and turned to see Kakashi ensnared in the two ninjas chains. She summoned her spear in time to watch her sensei be torn into pieces. The two ninjas laughed as they appeared behind Naruto. They readied their chains, but before they could get them into their positions Hikari wrapped it onto her spear and impaled it into the tree behind them. Sasuke jumped between the two enemy ninja and kicked them in the head.

They broke the chain off of their gloves and separated. One headed for Sakura and Tazuna, while the other charged at Naruto. Naruto froze in fear, which forced Hikari to jump in front of the genin and putting herself into the path of the enemy shinobi. She palmed the side of the glove, knocking his strike off center, but not far enough. The glove buried itself into her left shoulder. Hikari winced before she used her lightning-styled gentle fist directly onto his chest. Stopping his heart instantly. The man went wide eyed as he struggled for breath. Hikari punched him in the throat launching him backwards. She gasped as the bladed fingers were pulled from her flesh. She heard him hit the tree with a sickening crunch as she fell to her knees.

She looked over in time to see Kakashi clothesline the other one. She returned her attentions to herself as she gingerly touched the wound. She inhaled sharply as she began to apply pressure to the wound. It was definitely poisoned. Her heartrate began to accelerate. Fear. She could die if she didn't have a proper antidote. She slowly stood up and walked over to the dead shinobi. Kakashi was talking to Tazuna about something, but they sounded so far away, and she didn't have time to care.

Hikari grabbed the gloved hand of the dead shinobi and took the weapon off of his arm, breaking it as she did so. She observed it for a few seconds before she started to search for the compartment that held the poison. She found a purple liquid that he had obviously use to poison her. Hikari quickly unstoppered the vial of poison and began to examine it. Thankfully, it was an incredibly generic poison that you could find in any of the major villages. Hikari quickly used one of her seals and summoned forward her mobile work station. She opened the rectangular box full of herbs and vials. She looked through a couple of her vials and pulled out one with a thick green fluid.

Hikari's eyes began to lose focus as she felt the poison course through her body. Hikari poured some of the liquid into her hands and began to slowly rub it into her wound. They were still talking about something that Hikari could have cared less about. "DO YOU MIND? I'M TRYING TO NOT DIE HERE!" Hikari yelled as she began putting everything back into her work station.

Kakashi appeared next to her in an instant. "Are you alright?" He began examining the wound carefully. She was bleeding profusely, but it wasn't going to kill her. He slowly began to apply medical jutsu to her shoulder. He wasn't particularly proficient at this kind of thing, but he could stymie the bleeding and mitigate some of the pain.

Hikari smiled as she felt the warm medical chakra flow into her. "I will be. I wasn't expecting to have to take a hit like that." Hikari said as she breathed heavily. "Sakura, would you mind if you finished patching me up? I don't particularly like the idea of going shirtless in front of these guys."

The two kunoichi entered the forest and returned a few minutes later. Hikari's new shirt significantly less covered with blood. Kakashi turned his attention away from his apprentice. "We're going to need to talk." Kakashi said as he hefted the ninja that was still alive and tied him to the tree.

Hikari walked in front of the ninja and sat down. "You four talk to Tazuna, I'll have a word with our would be assassin." Hikari pulled the glove off of the remaining nin, breaking his arm as she did so (the only difference was this time it was on purpose). She stared at him for a few minutes before the man started to stir. "You are a chunin-level ninja from the village hidden in the mist. Why are you after a bridge-builder?"

"We take the jobs we're paid for same as you." The gruff man said as he let out a chuckle.

"True, but I want to know the details, who sent you, who paid for your services, where they hail from." She paused for a second. "If you lie to me, I will be forced to hurt you. Much more than a simple broken arm."

"I'm not telling you shit." The shinobi spat out.

"I've already killed your teammate." Hikari said as she began breaking the fingers of the man's other arm. "I've killed a lot of people." The man screamed out in pain as Hikari pushed one of her flaming fingers into the man's forearm. Hikari pulled out a couple of senbon and held them in front of his face. "And if you don't start telling me what I want to know. I'll stab out your eyes before I make you beg for the sweet release of pain that death will bring you."

The man grimaced, but didn't say anything. "So you've elected the path of pain." Hikari's Sharingan swirled into life, and the forest echoed with his screams.

* * *

><p>Hikari had gotten all of the answers she'd wanted in forty-five minutes. Thirty minutes was all it had taken for her to break him, it was almost disappointing. Hikari pulled out her tanto and slit his throat, emptying his life force onto the ground in a red pool. She cut him from the tree and burned the corpse to ash.<p>

Hikari deactivated her Sharingan and rubbed at her temples. Using the torture genjutsu for that long gave her a severe headache and made her eyes sore. She walked back onto the road and looked around. Kakashi was sitting back reading his book, but the other genin looked like they were physically ill. "Their services were paid for by a shipping magnate by the name of Gato. They were sent by their boss, an A-rank missing-nin by the name of Zabuza Momochi. He was paid to kill the bridge builder because it threatens the monopoly Gato has established in the Land of Waves" Hikari looked over to Kakashi. "So? What do you think? Do we head back or keep going?"

"We can't!" Naruto yelled as he focused on her. "We have to finish the mission! I didn't even do anything last fight!" Naruto averted his eyes and looked down at the ground. "I'm never going to be rescued again. I pledge, that I will never run away! BELIEVE IT!"

Hikari ignored Naruto as she began massaging her shoulder. "It sounds to me that we are obligated to make sure this old man doesn't die. Even if he did lie about the difficulty of this mission. If I had to guess, once Zabuza finds out his men failed, he'll probably come for us himself. Worth the risk?"

"Why did you hide the fact that you were going to be hunted by ninja?" Kakashi intoned.

"Because the Land of Waves is a small and impoverished nation. Even our nobles have little wealth. The commoners who are building this bridge are not able to afford an A or B-ranked mission. If you end the mission, I'll be assassinated before I reach home. I understand if you don't want to protect me anymore. I did what I did for my village. If I can get back and create the bridge, I can bring my people hope again." Tazuna said as he avoided eye contact. "I'm sure my grandson will be heartbroken. 'Where's my grandpa, I miss him and love him so much.' Is probably what he'll say once I die on my way back."

Kakashi sighed at the obvious guilt trip the bridge builder was giving them. "We'll escort him to the land of waves, and stay with him until he finishes that bridge."

Hikari waited for a few seconds. "Why don't we just kill Gato?" The other three genin looked at her like she was a crazy person. "By killing Gato, we eliminate the reason why Zabuza Momochi is attempting to kill the bridge builder, while simultaneously ridding the Land of Waves from a tyrant. He probably doesn't have any other high level shinobi in his employ, which means it'd just be a bunch of hired thugs."

Kakashi thought for a moment. "And who would we send to do that? If we send me and you, Tazuna is left incredibly vulnerable, but if we send you and one of the other genin and there is another high level ninja that we didn't account for, you'll both die. Let's just stick together for now."

Hikari's left arm twitched slightly. "Hai, Sensei."

* * *

><p>The team had made it to the land of waves without further incident. The fog was beginning to clear as they made their way to the shore. Naruto was particularly jumpy. Incredibly quick to throw his kunai into a bush that he was sure was filled with an enemy ninja. Which was in fact filled with a white rabbit that was so scared it left pellets on the ground in its wake. He was so upset he'd almost killed "Mr. Bunny" that he almost cried.<p>

"Naruto, you little idiot! STOP FOOLING AROUND!" Sakura yelled as the blonde knucklehead began to hug the rabbit in order to reassure it he meant no harm.

"GET DOWN!" Kakashi yelled seconds before a sword of monolithic proportions sliced its way across the grounds, where the genin's heads had been moments earlier.

The sword sliced into a tree with a loud 'thunk.' A tall, muscular man with tall with pale skin, and short spiky black hair landed on the hilt of the oversized blade. He was wearing baggy pants with small black stripes, with brown and white camo-style wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, and matching leg-warmers.

_Well, he doesn't really know how to dress, but he gets style points for that move. _Hikari thought as she returned to a standing position.

"Well, well." Kakashi said as he lazily walked forward, with his typical slouch. "If it isn't Zabuza Momochi, rouge ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Naruto grimaced before he started to charge at the shirtless ninja. Being stopped almost immediately by Kakashi's outstretched hand. "You're in the way. This opponent is far out of your league. If he's our opponent, I'm going to need this." Kakashi began to reveal the eye that he kept hidden unless the situation was dire.

"Kakashi Hatake, of the Sharingan Eye. Did I get it right?" Sasuke gasped. Hikari had forgotten that Sasuke was not aware that Kakashi possessed the Sharingan. It was after all one of the most important reasons that he was assigned as his jonin sensei. "You'll have to hand over the old man." His gravelly voice seemed to suggest that he honestly preferred if they resisted. His Killing Intent was almost suffocating.

"Manji Formation, protect the bridge builder." As soon as Kakashi finished his sentence, the three genin created a triangle around Tazuna, holding out kunai in preparation for an attack from any side. Hikari appeared at her sensei's right side, spear already drawn and held with the point downwards. "Stay out of this fight." Kakashi warned.

"Sorry, sensei. Can't let you fight him alone." Hikari said as she licked her lips in anticipation. "What kind of apprentice would I be if I ran away at the first sight of trouble? We're a team." Kakashi's eyes were filled with pain for only a moment, and then it was gone. He nodded his head and returned his attentions to the shirtless man in front of them. Hikari's Sharingan swirled into life as Kakashi finished pulling up his headband.

"Well, well. Looks like I'm going to get to see three Sharingan eyes in action, an honor I'm sure." The man smiled imperceptibly from behind the bandages wrapping his face. A Dense fog began to ensnare the group of ninja. "As for you, jonin, in the assassination unit of the Village Hidden in the Mist, we had a standing order to destroy you on sight. You were in my bingo book. They called you 'The man who copied over a thousand jutsu.'" The man began to disappear from sight due to the intensity of the fog. "Kakashi, the copy ninja." He pulled out his incredibly long blade from the tree and jumped onto the surface of the water. He held up a hand sign, and the fog became imperceptibly deep. The chakra laced water prevalent in the mist made it difficult for even the Sharingan to penetrate. "Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

With that, Zabuza Momochi completely disappeared from sight. Hikari could feel the nuke-nin's killing intent through the mist, but his chakra was indiscernible. She began to feel out with her chakra, checking for minute differences in chakra levels in the mist.

Kakashi walked in front of his genin. "Zabuza Momochi, master of the silent killing technique." He paused for a few seconds. "It's so fast, you pass from this life without even realizing what has happened. Don't lower your guard. Well, if we fail, we only lose our lives."

Hikari chuckled in spite of herself. "Oh, good. It's not like you were using yours anyway."

Kakashi feigned hurt. "And here I was all teary-eyed from you saying we were a team."

The fog thickened even more, making it impossible to see more than a few yards in any direction. "Eight points: Larynx, Spine, Lungs, Liver, Jugular, Subclavian Artery, Kidneys, Heart. Which one should I choose?" His voice seemed to emanate from all directions at once, the mist distorting his location.

Kakashi pulsed his chakra, and a wind blew away the worst of the fog almost instantaneously. Hikari felt out with her chakra again, and felt the telltale flutter of Sasuke's chakra. He was scared, terrified even. The killing intent between the two jonin was filling his every breath, suffocating him. She looked over to see him bring his knife into position to use on himself. Hikari was at his side in an instant, putting her left hand over the hilt of his kunai. "Keep a cool head." Her eyes met his and the intense expression she had been holding in preparation to fight Zabuza softened. "Me and Kakashi are here to keep you all safe. Never forget that."

"I will not let my comrades die." Kakashi said as he turned his face towards his genin. "Trust me." He smiled, but the pain that Hikari had seen when she'd said they were a team was there again. Why calling them his team did hurt him like this? Were some of those friends he had at the Memorial Stone his genin teammates? Was that why he had become stronger?

Zabuza appeared in the center of the three genin with his massive sword posed to attack. Hikari quickly pulled Sasuke and physically threw him out of range of the strike, while her spear flew into a defensive position. Kakashi arrived in less than an instant, and impaled Zabuza in the ribs. Hikari looked down to see water flowing from the nuke-nin's wound. "Water clone!" Hikari said as she hefted her spear and covered Kakashi's rear. Intercepting the blow meant for Kakashi's back and holding his sword in place as she planted her spear into the ground. Zabuza's strength was insane, and she struggled to keep his sword in place.

Kakashi appeared behind him, and the water clone that Hikari was working so hard to protect dissipated into a puddle. _Well, that's disappointing. _Kakashi held a kunai to Zabuza's throat threateningly. "Now it's over. You're finished."

Zabuza began to chuckle throatily. "I'll never lose to such a crass imitation. It was very skillfully executed, you used your clone to draw my attention. Nice try." Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi. "But I'm not that easy to fool!" The water clone Hikari was struggling against used its strength to throw her several feet away from the combat, moments before Kakashi dispelled it. The real Zabuza, swung his sword, and narrowly missed bisecting Kakashi across the stomach. Kakashi ducked, and Zabuza used the opening to kick Kakashi and send him flying into the lake.

Zabuza jumped into the water after him, as Hikari got up from her brief flight and followed the two ninja towards the water's edge. Suddenly, Kakashi was engulfed in a water prison. Zabuza chuckled as he relished in his victory. "This prison is made out of water, but it's stronger than steel. So much for the great Kakashi."

Hikari grimaced as she palmed three senbon, and threw them in the direction of the massive nuke-nin. He halfheartedly swatted away the two senbon that would have hit him, but ignored the third. Big mistake. Hikari smiled as her senbon landed in the water on the other side of Kakashi's temporary prison. "I'll have to apologize for this later." Hikari said as she released the jutsu she had prepared while chasing after Zabuza. _Lightning Style: Destructive Current. _Hikari thought as she sent an incredibly powerful arch of lighting natured chakra across the wire she had attached to her senbon. The two jonin screamed in pain as the water they were both incased in sent arches of powerfully debilitating electricity into their bodies. Hikari watched as the Kirigakure jonin lost consciousness, and released control of his water prison.

Hikari walked over to the two floating jonin and began to drag them both onto the shore. Kakashi breathed heavily, but was still conscious, if only barely. "What was that for?" He asked between ragged breaths.

"Well, Mr. Let's-escape-from-a-water-based-ninja-by-jumping-into-a-lake, I had to improvise." Hikari smiled for a second. "The fact that you got hurt is simply icing on the proverbial cake." She said as she tossed Zabuza's unconscious form onto the shore before carefully placing him down so that he could lean against a tree. Hikari heard senbon sail across the battlefield, and quickly deflected the airborne projectiles with her tanto. They all seemed to be headed towards Zabuza, but she wasn't about to let some random passerby to take credit for her kill. "I appreciate the assistance," Hikari said to the mist, "but I think I've gotten it covered here."

A shinobi appeared in the trees to her immediate left, wearing a pinstriped outfit which stopped at his knees. Over that, he wore a green haori with white trimmings, and around his waist there was a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around his waist twice. His (or her actually it was kind of hard to tell at first… or second glance) long hair was gathered in a bun, while two locks of his hair fell loose framing his face. The shinobi wore a white hunter-nin mask with thin, curved eye-holes and a red wavy design in place of the mouth, as well as the Kirigakure symbol etched in the top. "I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time. Thank you." The mysterious shinobi said.

"You're welcome." Hikari said as she defensively raised her tanto. "But I am afraid that I can't just let you waltz in here and take him. I need to talk to him about Gato." Hikari stared at the masked-nin's face. "You can take him once I'm finished."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." The masked ninja said as it brought a few senbon to bare. "His life and secrets are the property of Kirigakure, any attempt to keep me from my prey is paramount to declaring war."

Hikari stared into the eyes of the newcomer and let her mind wander for a few moments before taking control of the situation. "Ok." Hikari said as her spear was summoned into her hand, which she immediately used to pierce through Zabuza's chest cavity and pin him to the ground through his heart.

"NO!" The boy seemed to teleport in front of her and struck out at her with the senbon he had in his hand. He struck at the pale girl, but when his senbon connected with her flesh, it seemed that reality began to break down. The world became slow and began to melt away. He blinked and found himself back inside of the tree he had jumped from moments before. He looked over to Zabuza, and saw that he was still very much alive, unconscious, but alive.

"Well, that's certainly telling. I don't think you are what you say you are." Hikari let a smile tug at her lips as she summoned her spear and placed it over Zabuza's third thoracic vertebrae. "The only reason I have to kill Zabuza is that he is in the way of important business of the leaf shinobi." Hikari paused for a few seconds. "But if the man paying for his services is dead, he has no reason to harm Tazuna, and by extension no reason for us to have to harm him." Hikari looked at Kakashi and gave him a small wink. "So, here's the plan. You and I kill Gato and his men. We leave you to do your business, you leave us to do ours, or I kill Zabuza now, followed immediately by a four versus one battle with you."

"Genjutsu." The boy said as he looked over at the person he lived for. "I can't kill all five of you before one of you can succeed in killing him, especially in the state he is in now." He paused contemplatively. "Do I have your word that your teammates will not end his life while we are gone?"

Hikari pulled out one of her senbon and dipped it into a seal she had on her left hand, instantly coating it in a severe depressant that would render the victim unconscious for several days. She leaned over Zabuza and gently pressed it into his arm, introducing it into his bloodstream as she did so. "You do now." Hikari looked back to Kakashi and saw that he was seconds away from stopping her, but was still unable to move due to the electricity she had pulsed through him. She disappeared from Zabuza's side and appeared next to the boy who had pretended to be a hunter-nin. "We'd better get started, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can all get out of each other's hair."

Kakashi watched as the two ninja disappeared into the forest. He wanted to say something, to yell at Hikari that she was being foolish, that leaving alone with an enemy ninja could potentially get her killed. But his tongue felt like lead in his mouth, and his head was pounding from the severe migraine he had from using the Sharingan. He couldn't let her do this, he couldn't lose someone else. He'd promised himself that he'd never fail a friend again, but he lacked the strength to follow her. His last thoughts as he drifted into unconsciousness was that of Obito and Rin.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note:

I realize I said I'd be slowing down my updates, but for whatever reason (superbowl probably) I have had a lot of freetime recently. Which is good news for you guys lol.

* * *

><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 16

"Why do you care so much about Zabuza Momochi?" Hikari asked as she followed closely behind the boy who had introduced himself as Haku moments before. He seemed like a nice enough boy, which is why she was confused as to why he would follow a self-proclaimed demon.

"What is your reason for living?" Haku asked as he came to a stop on the trees.

"That's a little personal for a first conversation, but I'll bite." Hikari said as she came to a stop as well. "I live to protect my village and my precious people, and I am willing to do anything and everything necessary to keep them safe."

"Is that what you choose to call them?" Haku intoned. "Your 'precious people.'" He seemed to contemplate something for a few moments. "Zabuza is my precious person. My dream is to help him achieve his dream. We shinobi are nothing more than tools, and if I lose my master I will suffer again the pain of knowing that my existence is no longer necessary. I want to protect the person important to me. I want to work for that person. I want to fight for that person. I want to make that person's dream come true. That is my dream." The boy eyed her from behind his mask waiting for her response.

"I understand." Hikari said as she turned away from the boy. "You've dedicated yourself to a person, while I've dedicated myself to an ideal. If I lost Konoha, I would be lost. I agree with you that shinobi are tools. We are molded by our experiences to become killing machines, but as long as I know that the existences I'm ending help me make a safer world for my loved ones, I can live with myself." Hikari eyed the boy. "So can I trust you?"

"For now." The boy said as he resumed his movement towards what she assumed was Gato's hideout. She wasn't so foolish as to assume that Haku was going to be an upstanding boy, who would abide by his agreement to the end. It was one of the reasons she chose to have a water clone following him instead of the real her. Hikari was following closely, but distinctly out of sensing range.

_I'm going to protect my loved ones, at any cost. _Her left arm twitched imperceptibly.

_If you get into trouble, don't hesitate summoning me. I wouldn't want you to get hurt because you've decided to be an idiot._

_Idiot? Mamoru-Kun, you know as well as I that if I do this, I can mitigate the danger my team will be placed in._

_But you've placed yourself into significant danger, what are you going to do if Haku betrays you?_

_He won't risk Zabuza's life. I'm sure he's realized what will happen to his precious person if I am killed._

Hikari overlooked the compound that Gato had established in the Land of Waves. The compound emanated a sense of false regality. It felt that Gato was simply trying too hard to make himself seem like a big, important man. It stank of desperation. The flowers and walls were lavish, but lacked the natural history of the compounds of the Uchiha and Hyuga compounds she had seen.

There was an extreme amount of hired thugs that functioned as his guards. Hikari let her chakra sense flow over the compound, but failed to sense anyone who had significant chakra resources, other than herself and Haku. "Do you know the layout of the compound? There seem to be quite a few guards, sneaking in could prove to be difficult." Hikari said quietly to Haku.

"I do." The boy said quietly. "He lives in the highest room in the largest building in the center of the compound." He paused for a second and Hikari could have sworn she saw a smile tug at the edges of his face behind his mask. "He has a bit of a complex."

"How do you feel about casualties other than Gato?" Hikari asked as she palmed a few senbon. "It might be a good idea to eliminate these thugs, so that they do not become a problem for Tazuna's village after their employer meets his end."

"I am not killing anyone." Haku said without tearing his eyes away from the compound. "But I will not stop you from killing them either. These men are brutish and crass."

Hikari tossed him a vial filled with a thin light blue fluid. "You'll want to use that then. It's a simple toxin that'll knock them out extra fast, and keep them down for about an hour." Hikari smiled behind her mask. "That way, even if someone manages to block your senbon, if you pierce their skin, you've already won."

* * *

><p>Taichi was cold. The ever prevalent mist and dampness in the air was a constant pain in his ass. He hadn't ever been particularly fond of the intense dry heat of his homeland, but he preferred it to this. He didn't care whether Gato was laundering drugs or if he was a legitimate businessman who just happened to have a lot of enemies. He only really cared about the fact that the pay was decent, and he had a place to sleep at night where it was at least moderately safe to sleep with both eyes closed.<p>

He thought he saw shadows passing along the edge of the mist, but they disappeared as soon as he saw them. The mist would often play tricks with his vision, and this early in the morning, it wasn't uncommon for men to see 'monsters' in the mist that ended up being an oddly shaped piece of tree, or a small mammal making its way to some food source.

No point in raising an alarm about shadows, the other guys would just laugh at him for being jumpy. Especially Gera, the smug bastard. The thin man went out of his way to antagonize him. Always insulting him and his work ethic. He didn't particularly care what the shithead said, but it was a nuisance to deal with, and if he didn't do something about it, the other guys were probably going to start antagonizing him too. You couldn't afford to look weak. The people here ate weaklings for breakfast and spat out their bones.

His mind didn't even have time to transition to how he would stop Gera from being such an ass. He felt a sharp pain in his back, and didn't even have the ability to yell out as his tongue became a useless mass of flesh in his mouth. His body collapsed to the ground as he lost all sense of feeling in his arms and legs. Seconds before losing consciousness he looked up to see two masked ninja looking down on him. G_uess I should have been more careful about those shadows. Fucking ninja._

* * *

><p>Hikari and Haku passed through the compound as silent as shadow, terminating any potential threat before it even realized it was under attack. The two ninja left no trace of their silent passing, quickly moving any of the men that they left incapacitated out of the way to keep from raising suspicion. In no time, the two of them made it to the central building, and stealthily made their way into the building. Few people were even awake at this time of the morning.<p>

They quietly made their way outside of Gato's sleeping quarters. He had two swordsmen standing outside of his doorway. They seemed to be the only moderately threatening individuals in the entire compound. Even then, they were at best high genin in terms of strength. Hikari made a few silent hand signals to Haku and the two simultaneously drew their toxin dipped senbon. The two senbon flew true and impaled into the neck of the two men. They held their hands to their necks and went wide eyed before collapsing onto the floors.

Hikari stood over the two men and checked to ensure they weren't playing possum. She slowly stood and opened the door to Gato's living quarters, pulling the two men in after her. She stood next to the small man's obscenely large bed. Honestly how did he manage to pull himself into the bed without getting lost? Hikari silently deployed a few sound depression seals and placed it around the room. Hikari pulled the man out of his bed by the collar of his pajamas and pinned him to the wall.

"AH! Get off of me! Who do you think you are!?" Gato squirmed in her grip, but he was incredibly weak, and had no hope of breaking the young ninja's rock hard embrace.

"You made an incredibly poor decision, sending ninja to kill Tazuna." Hikari said as she tightened her grip around his throat. "Your tyranny ends now."

"Wait! I'll give you anything you want! Money? Power? Drugs? Anything you want it's yours! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" The small man began to break down and beg.

Hikari was disgusted with the small man. He was one of those men who was all talk when he thought his money and influence could function as a shield, but now that he saw those things were worthless, he panicked. "Too long have you cause the people of the Land of Waves to suffer. You're destruction is necessary to rid this world of no small amount of evil." Her grip around his neck tightened and the small man began to kick even more violently. She increased her pressure and heard a pop as she snapped his neck. The light left his eyes as his kicking ceased and his corpse slumped in her grasp.

Hikari unceremoniously dropped the small man's corpse onto the ground. She started moving around his room, looking over his desk as well as other documents of importance. She quickly scrounged up the documents that she had deemed necessary and put them in a storage seal on her arm. "Well, Haku. Thank you for your assistance, but there are some other things we should probably take care of." Hikari said as she turned towards the masked boy.

He was looking down on the corpse she had just made. "We were using him to garner funds to accomplish our dream." Haku said as she looked down on the small man. "Zabuza hated the fact that we had to rely on him." He looked back to Hikari. "Now, I don't know what it is we are going to do."

Hikari paused for a few seconds. "Why not come with me and Kakashi?" Hikari asked as she walked past him. "Zabuza and Haku, Shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Two ninja who fought against a tyrant in order to bring about a better life for the inhabitants of a land that they had grown to love." Hikari said as she waved her hands around gesturing flowerily. "Konoha would be lucky to have you."

"That isn't what happened." Haku said as he followed Hikari across the compound.

"No, but it does sound like a lovely story." Hikari said as she smiled through her mask back at him "It also might help you accomplish your dreams. Zabuza can become stronger and gain allies in the Village. You can help him and find a reason for existence beyond that of a single person."

"I have a tendency not to trust hidden villages. When I was a child, people with Kekkei Genkai were treated as monsters and subsequently annihilated. Who's to say that won't happen again?" Haku asked as he caught up to Hikari's movement.

Hikari's Sharingan swirled to life. "Because the Kekkei Genkai of Konoha are part of its lifeblood. If Konoha started killing everyone who was associated with a Kekkei Genkai or secret jutsu, they'd have to annihilate more than half of their standing forces." Hikari turned off her eyes and looked back to Haku. "So not only would it be cruel, it would also be stupid."

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat up in his bed. Hikari had been gone for three days while he had been forced to sit in this damn bed across from the still unconscious Zabuza. His arms and legs still ached, and he could only move around with the assistance of the crutches Tazuna had let him borrow. Of course, Tazuna's little brat wasn't helping his mood either. Constantly little quips about 'Gato being too powerful' and 'if your apprentice has gone to fight him, then she's probably already dead.' He would have smacked the kid upside the head if he didn't know the reason behind the kid's pessimism. Kakashi sighed as he saw the nuke-nin begin to awaken from his senbon induced slumber.<p>

"Why can't I move?" Zabuza grumbled while attempting to flex his extremities, they wouldn't budge an inch. Of course, it didn't help that he had been tied down with a rather obscene amount of rope and chakra wire.

"Whatever Hikari gave you to behave must still be working its way through your system." Kakashi said as he leaned his head against the wall. "You and I have been out of commission for three days. I don't know if you were awake for it, but our little apprentices went off to kill a crime boss."

"WHAT!?" Zabuza yelled despite the fact that he couldn't move anything besides a couple of the muscles in his face. "Why would they do something so monumentally stupid? They are supposed to try to kill each other, not become crime fighters."

Kakashi shrugged as he lazily pulled out his favorite book. "I should probably focus more on Hikari's impulse control." He said thoughtfully as he turned one of the pages. It was more to himself than the incapacitated ninja in front of him.

"Where's my sword?" Zabuza asked as his eyes darted around the room.

"I think Naruto brought it back." Kakashi said as he flipped another page.

"Which one is that?"

"The loud, blond one." Kakashi eyed Zabuza. "He had to use five or six Shadow Clones in order to lug it all the way here. Of course, they didn't appreciate having to carry the two of us either." Kakashi added as he looked up from his book. "At least with the death of Gato, you and I don't have a reason to kill each other anymore." Kakashi added as mundanely as if he was talking about the relative humidity of the Land of Waves.

"I don't know, you do have a pretty nice bounty in my bingo book." Zabuza smiled behind the bandages wrapped around his face.

"You do too." Kakashi added as he lifted up one of his arms. "But unlike you, I can move my arms." He said as he smiled so wide it crinkled the side of his eyes. "Perhaps we'll have a rematch later… one where my student doesn't fry us both and incapacitate us for half a week."

"Complain, complain, why don't you?" Hikari said as she walked into the two men's shared bedroom. "While the two of you have been lounging about, your two students have been doing the real work." Hikari sat down next to Zabuza and stabbed a senbon into his arm, rather unceremoniously.

Zabuza immediately felt life return to his extremities and flexed his hand to ensure that everything was still working properly. Of course, that meant that he also started to feel how incredibly sore his body was, and he was still restrained and would no doubt be staying that way for a while. He wouldn't have trusted a guy like him either. "What have you two been doing?" Zabuza asked as he watched Haku enter the door a few seconds behind the pale girl who had electrocuted him.

"Oh, the usual. Kill a crime lord. Take his shipping manifests and contracts. Eliminate any and all cargo related to his drug trade." She paused for a few seconds when she smiled. "Ensure the loyalty of his previous crew to the new regime I've set up." She seemed to remember something very important. "That reminds me. I need to go tell Tazuna that he's in charge of Gato Industries in my stead." Hikari said casually as she left the room. "Wouldn't want him to be too surprised when the other bosses come here for dinner tomorrow."

"What." The two jonin looked towards Haku for clarification.

"She's pretty thorough." Haku said. Of course, ensuring the boss' loyalty had been relatively easy after Hikari rode into their compounds on the back of a giant snake, and incapacitated a handful of the boss' best fighters to prove the point that 'yes, I am and charge, and anyone who has a problem with that is going to become this snakes next meal.' It was a rather crude tactic, but it was undoubtedly effective. These guys understood strength, and their rule of thumb for them was that when you see a predator that's bigger and stronger than you, you show it your neck while tacitly telling it that it is indeed the alpha to which you will give your undying loyalty.

* * *

><p>Tazuna looked like he'd been slapped in the face with the largest fish Hikari could bring to bear. "What are you talking about?! I'm a bridge builder, I don't have any experience running a shipping company, let's not forget the fact that it is the largest shipping company this side of the world!" Tazuna yelled when he realized what she had done.<p>

"I would be down for doing it, but I have ninja stuff that I need to learn." Hikari said as she did something very Naruto-y and started rubbing the back of her head.

"Ninja stuff." Tazuna said incredulously. "How wonderfully specific."

"Look, you've been looking for a way to bring prosperity to the Land of Waves again, and this is the perfect opportunity for you to do that. If you don't understand something, hire some savvy businessmen to explain it or do it for you." Hikari looked at the bridge, it would be another month at least before the bridge could be completed. "I chose you because no matter what, you have this land's best interest at your heart. Don't you want to make the Land of Waves a better place for your grandson?"

That was a low blow. Utilizing his affection for his grandson in order to coerce him into doing what she wanted, and it was almost as obvious as how he had tried to use his grandson to manipulate them so that they would continue protecting him… A vicious cycle. Tazuna sighed. "Fine. I'll give it my best."

"Great, because they are coming over for dinner tomorrow and I want you to make a good first impression." Hikari disappeared into a shunshin of swirling leaves and smoke. Leaving the old man on the bridge with mouth agape.

"She's going to get me killed." Tazuna said as he placed his head in his hands. "All that effort put into getting me here alive, and she's going to be the reason I'm murdered." Tazuna looked up at the bridge in front of him. News of Gato's death had brought out more workers than he had seen in years. What was going to take almost four months of hard labor was now going to take about one. "Those brats are simultaneously a blessing and a curse." Tazuna said as he went back to work. No point crying about it now, those guys were going to be coming to his house regardless of whether or not he had said yes.

* * *

><p>"No." Zabuza said as he hefted his sword back into place. It was the morning of Hikari's… He supposed it could be considered something along the lines of a coup. He had finally been released from those damned ropes.<p>

"Oh, please!" Hikari said as she ran in front of him. "The pay is going to be really good after everything gets settled and the boss' pledge their loyalty in an official capacity." She started to give him puppy dog eyes.

"I'm not going to be your hired muscle for dinner." He might have fallen on hard times, but he was not about to be a bodyguard for a thirteen year old girl. If any of the other swordsmen heard about it he would literally never live it down. He had spent years developing his reputation, and would not have it ruined in a single night.

"COME ON! You are the most physically intimidating person these guys have ever seen! They knew that Gato had a powerful shinobi at his side, and if they see you working with me, it'll give me more credibility." Hikari paused for a moment. If she wasn't going to get him with flattery or money there was always a third option. "I'm a pretty good ally to have at your disposal, and I'd owe you a favor."

Zabuza's eyes narrowed. "Haku told you, didn't he?" Hikari smiled and nodded. "That boy is far too kind and trusting for his own good. He'd make a perfect shinobi otherwise." Zabuza sighed. "I'm not going to be the bodyguard for a thirteen year old girl, I'd never live it down."

"Would you live down being defeated by that same thirteen year old girl?" Hikari said with the largest shit-eating grin Zabuza had ever witnessed.

"You wouldn't." When her response was a raised eyebrow he let out yet another sigh. "I could just kill you and get all this over with." He said darkly.

"Oh, I have no doubt that you would give it an honest attempt. That's why I poisoned your breakfast." Hikari said as she turned away from the nuke-nin. "I'd prefer our relationship be mutually beneficial, but it would be better to erase you if you are going to be a liability."

"YOU WHAT!?" Zabuza yelled as he pulled out his large blade and pointed it to Hikari's back. His heart started beating rapidly and his vision began blurring. His mouth tasted like sand and he was gradually losing control of his motor functions.

"See? This would make me two-for-two." Hikari said as she turned back to face the man who's grip on his sword was wavering, getting weaker by the second. She had apparently activated her Sharingan while he hadn't been watching. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, he lacked the strength to even raise his head. "I did promise Haku I wouldn't kill you though, so there is that I have to consider." She lifted Zabuza's eyes from the ground to meet her own gaze. Her whole body radiated intense Killing Intent as she looked into the eyes of the self-proclaimed 'Demon of the Bloody Mist.' "The things with monsters like you and I, is that we need to learn how to effectively communicate with others, and I think I've found out what it is you'll listen to." She said as a crazed smile worked its way across her mask. "So, my request, is no longer a request, Zabuza Momochi. It is a command, from a demon of higher rank than you."

Zabuza could literally see the different ways she would kill him if he gave her the opportunity. Tanto to the base of the neck, lightning through his heart, engulfed in an unyielding, undying flame were just a few of the terrors the girl had in her arsenal; never mind the fact that she had more poisons than some people had jutsu. "You WILL protect Tazuna. You WILL ensure the continued prosperity of the Land of Waves. And you WILL follow my every command." Zabuza felt his body return to its non-poisoned state again, and focused his eyes on the young girl in front of him. Her gaze hardened and her grip on his chin tightened. "Or I will kill you. Am I understood?"

The expression 'if looks could kill', could not have possibly been more relevant than at this precise instant. Zabuza's eyes were so full of rage and hatred, that if he had been able to move a single muscle in his body, he would have strangled her. The only problem was that she had somehow managed to force him to remain completely and utterly stationary. Hikari's face returned to its non-crazed smile as her eyes softened. "You shouldn't be so upset about me beating you, Zabuza. If push comes to shove, just be sure to tell them it was Orochimaru's kid. I'm sure they'll lay off after that."

His heart almost skipped a beat. _Orochimaru? The Orochimaru? Arguably the strongest member of the legendary sanin had reproduced, and with an Uchiha no less? _Hikari dispelled the paralysis genjutsu, but Zabuza remained exactly where he was. "I'm glad we had this little chat. It'd be such a waste of potential if I had to kill you." Hikari walked past the nuke-nin who was still on his hands and knees. "Don't disappoint me, I've been told I'm not exactly the forgiving type." Hikari walked into the house and asked Tazuna's daughter about dinner arrangements.

* * *

><p>Hikari sat at the table with the boss' of the ten main islands that made up the Land of Waves, with Tazuna at her right side and Zabuza standing menacingly at the rear of the room. His killing intent was engulfing the entire room, and was making all of the men gathered incredibly uncomfortable. Of course, Hikari had proven to him that she was a better predator at the moment, so he'd bide his time until he became stronger.<p>

Tazuna's daughter had created a pretty mean spread with the funds that Hikari had given her. Hikari let a small smile crease her lips, she had chosen to remove her mask for the dinner, she wanted these men to remember her face. "As I made you all very aware, Gato is dead, and I have accumulated all of his information regarding his customers and contracts. I have brought you here as a demonstration of the fact that I hope we can all profit from future business ventures. Of course, I will be having Tazuna here function as my proxy while I am not in the Land of Waves. If I hear that you are questioning Tazuna's authority, it means that you are tacitly bringing my authority into question. This will not be tolerated."

One of the more brave men slammed his hand on the long table that Hikari had purchased for this meeting. "I am not going to be intimidated by some snot-nosed little kid!" He yelled as he moved to stand up. Before any of them had time to blink a senbon appeared, lodged into the man's throat. He choked for a few seconds on his own blood as he pulled it out, panicking. That was foolish, all he was going to succeed in doing was getting blood on her new table, and Tazuna's sitting pillows.

After the man's lifeless corpse slumped to the ground Hikari's gaze returned to the men in front of her. "Anyone else not intimidated by this 'snot-nosed kid?'" There was a deathly quiet lack of response. "No? Good. Then it's back to business. The nine of you will function as semi-autonomous mercantile freighters that will give detailed reports to Tazuna on a monthly basis. Do not lie in these reports, and we will be golden. Konoha will receive priority rates on any of the metals and foodstuffs that are being moved from the Land of Waves. I am giving you more freedom than Gato allowed you, but this freedom comes with accountability. Am I understood?" The men gathered in front of her dumbly nodded their heads in unison. "Excellent, in that case, let's eat. Oh, and someone inform that man's second-in-command that he's received a promotion."

* * *

><p>The month that followed was rather dull after the events that took place in the past couple of days. The students were taught how to use water-walking, Hikari had resolved any of the lingering doubts that she was in charge, and Zabuza took his duty of protecting Tazuna with resigned indifference. Hikari was almost constantly ruminating on Minato's journal. She had gotten quite far into decoding everything, she estimated that she was approximately 75% complete. Which meant that it was only a matter of time before she got to do the more enjoyable, but significantly more complicated part which was recreating the lost seal.<p>

Hikari had realized that the journal was not only Minato's notes on his special fuinjutsu and the techniques he used around it, but it was also a diary of sorts (of course, he probably wouldn't have used a term like diary, he was far too cool and manly to have a diary in which he talked about some hot-blooded redhead). He detailed parts of his life and referenced friends and comrades, which was somewhat weird for Hikari. Minato had always been "The Hokage" to her. It was eye opening to see that he had a life outside of his office, and she was happy that she got to see a little bit of it.

When the five ninja left the Land of Waves the did so by crossing "The Bridge of Hope." Which connected the Land of Waves to the mainland. Hikari realized that the guy hadn't been given the title of Master for no small reason. This was an amazing bridge. It was wide enough to accommodate any foot traffic the land required.

Kakashi walked next to her. "You shouldn't have done those things without my permission. It was foolish and dangerous."

"Worried about me sensei?" Hikari said teasingly. "It's sweet. I'm glad to know you'll be looking out for me, but if push came to shove I could have always killed Haku."

"It wasn't Haku that had me worried." Kakashi said seriously. "I thought I had taught you the value of teamwork. You have a team for a reason, and that's to help you when you are going to do something stupid. You didn't have enough Intel and could have gotten yourself killed."

"It worked out in the end didn't it?" Hikari said hotly.

"And what about when it doesn't?" Kakashi retorted. "What about when things don't end up fine, and you wind up dead or captured because you thought you could do it on your own?" He sighed. "There's no question that you're strong, Hikari. You're a fast learner and you adapt to situations quickly and efficiently, but you will come up against opponents that are bigger and stronger than you eventually, and when that time comes you are going to need your teammates to help you defeat them."

"Hai-Shishou." Hikari said blandly. She was not a fan of being chastised. Granted very few people were, but she was under the impression that what she had done was good. Being reprimanded for saving the Land of Waves by her sensei hurt more than she was going to let on. After all, she had defeated an A-class nuke-nin, killed a tyrant, and taken over an entire shipping company. Would it hurt him to give her a little bit of praise?

Hikari didn't speak much on their swift return to Konohagakure. Instead choosing to focus on the journal for every possible second she had available. Naruto continued to be Naruto for the entire trip. There wasn't anything wrong with that, and his antics often made a small smile crease behind her mask, but it got on Sasuke and Sakura's nerves to no end.

Hikari had heard more from Sasuke on this mission than she had the entire time she had known him. Granted, it was mostly complaints about the 'idiot' or 'loser' doing something that Sasuke deemed unworthy of the ninja. This was often retorted by Naruto telling the 'bastard' that he was going to be a great ninja, and just you watch I'm going to wipe the floor with you when I get stronger.

Sakura knew better than to come to her Sasuke-kun's rescue and pummel Naruto for saying something like that. She would only hit Naruto if he did or said anything she didn't like about her. Like the fact that while they were eating lunch one day, Naruto had told her that Haku was prettier than she was, the fact that Sakura realized Naruto thought a boy (although it did take her a while to realize it was a boy) was prettier than her was not appreciated. She ended up pulling a page from Hikari's book, by chasing him around town narrowly missing him with her senbon.

* * *

><p>Sarutobi was working on automatic as he shuffled through his paperwork, signing, reading, delegating, and signing some more. When he reached into his box labeled 'in' and did not feel any paper crinkle underneath his grasp he knew what was going to happen. Any second now a catastrophe would strike the village, or he would have to deal with a crisis one of his shinobi was suffering through. He stared at his door intently. Any second now… Any second.<p>

Sarutobi sat there for a long moment while nothing interrupted his peace. If anything, the lack of crisis was more disturbing than it just happening already. It was like the worst jump-scare he could imagine. He sat there knowing that any second someone was going to barge in with terrible news, but the fact that he had to sit there and wait for it just made it so much worse. After five minutes of staring at the door unblinkingly, he allowed himself to relax slightly. The fact that big problems only happen when he'd finished his paperwork for the day was coincidence, not mandatory. He slowly pulled out his pipe and filled it with his favorite tobacco. If he was going to get a free break he wasn't going to let it go to waste.

He lit his pipe and savored the taste of his tobacco. He closed his eyes and allowed his old mind to wander to the past. He let out a sigh and blew smoke into the air, letting the moment of peace fill his mind and body.

"JII-SAN! WE GOT TO FIGHT AN A-RANKED MISSING-NIN!" Naruto screamed as he burst through his door.

Well it was nice while it lasted. WAIT, WHAT. Sarutobi immediately opened his eyes to make sure that all of the genin he'd sent on that mission came back alive. When he counted four he let his panic die down before giving Kakashi his undivided attention. "You do realize I'm going to need a report?"

Kakashi sighed. "Couldn't I just tell you?"

"Of course you can, but you're going to do both." Sarutobi said with a smile. "I'm going to need more details. Your genin may return home and get some much needed rest while you fill me in."

The genin began to file out before Kakashi grabbed Hikari by the shoulder. "This one is going to have to give you some of the details that I wasn't awake for." He said with a smile that he was obviously using to cover up some frustration. The girl looked at the ground solemnly. "We have quite the story to tell."

Sarutobi was silent for a long while after Hikari finished detailing her exploits. "I see." Was his stoic reply. "I assume you have already informed her as to why this was a poorly thought out plan and forced her to promise that she will never do something like that again?" When both of them nodded he let a small smile part his lips. "Then congratulations are in order. Team Kakashi has just completed their first A-ranked mission. As well as will receive a healthy bonus for giving Konoha priority rates on any orders we place to Gato industries." Sarutobi added with a flourish. "Of course just because this ended well does not mean that all's well." He added seriously. "Hikari is going to need to spend some time with her next teammate, and Kakashi, you are going to need to focus on preparing your genin team for the Chunin exams."

The two shinobi in front of him stood at attention, but didn't speak. "The exams are in one month. It is already clear that Hikari is prepared for this, but I want you to put more effort towards teaching your students proper physical conditioning as well as a new jutsu." Kakashi looked like he was going to say something but the Hokage rolled over him. "I am well aware of the fact that you've had them all sparring with Hikari, but as their sensei, it's your duty to do more than just supervise. Hikari, I would suggest that you proceed to do teambuilding exercises with your newest teammate, who you will meet at training field nine tomorrow morning. You can use this free-time however you wish, but do not get complacent and cease training."

"Hai, Hokage-Sama." The two shinobi said in unison. They were fully aware that the Hokage's suggestions were merely polite commands. Sarutobi took another drag of his pipe before eyeing the pair in front of him. It wasn't as if Kakashi had never gone beyond the parameters of a mission when he thought that he could help out the village. Intentional or not, Kakashi was creating his own little clone. He almost laughed at how similarly they were dressed. They were both wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants that were bandaged along the legs, not to mention their identical masks that Hikari had taken to wearing now. The only real difference clothe-wise was that Hikari preferred grey and black while Kakashi wore blue.

"You're dismissed." Sarutobi said chuckling. His mind had spent far too much time on that little tangent. The two shinobi disappeared with a shunshin as he took another slow drag from his pipe. Almost immediately, his secretary walked in with another sizable mountain of paperwork she needed him to sort through. He sighed as he went back to work. Sign. Read. Delegate. Sign some more.

* * *

><p>Omake: Shino's little problem<p>

Shino woke up, bleary eyed from his lack of sleep, for whatever reason his swarm was in an incredibly excited mood today, buzzing around inside of him. It was illogical for him to worry about the emotional state of his bugs. He couldn't come up with a reason as to why they would be happy or excited, but the world of bug politics was a dynamic and ever-shifting sphere.

He got up and brushed his teeth, as he summoned one of his queens to explain to him what was going on inside his own body. When the small beetle landed on his index finger he grimaced. There was some sort of strange brightly colored growth on his beetle's forehead. He held the toothbrush in his mouth as he brought the small beetle up to his eyes.

It was a hat.

No. That didn't make any sense. He brought his other hand to the head of beetle and carefully removed the strange growth. It was removed with ease as he brought the small accessory closer. Definitely a hat. The queen angrily bristled at Shino and he slowly returned the tiny aqua blue top hat back on the top of the queen. She chirruped happily before returning to her host.

He quickly summoned more of his insects and noted that all of the bugs he summoned had identical blue top hats to the first queen he summoned. Not only that, they were all incredibly protective of their prospective hats… they liked them. He hoped this was a preference that he was going to be able to breed out, but that was unlikely.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note:

Shut up, I don't have a problem. I can stop writing whenever I want, it's just that I don't want to. Yes I realize it's 2 AM and I have school tomorrow as well as math homework that still needs to be done, but who needs things like school when you can mess around and write a fun story because you enjoy it? WHAT? I've been making this joke for too long? They can read everything I'm telling you? Do they know that they should read and review if they like what they read? Did you tell them? I KNOW I TOLD YOU I'M ASKING IF YOU WROTE IT DOWN!

Anyways… ENJOY!

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><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 17

"I'm home!" Hikari said as she took of her shoes and entered her house. She could sense someone else's presence, but for whatever reason, the person present did not deign to respond. Which meant that it was either Sasuke, Gaara, or someone who was not her friend. Hikari summoned her spear as she walked down the small hall leading towards the kitchen. When she turned, the corner, she saw Hiashi Hyuga. "Good afternoon, Hiashi-Sama." Hikari said with spear leveled. "Typically when someone breaks into my house, they at least have the courtesy to welcome me back." She said tersely as the spear in her hands dissipated and she walked into her kitchen. "Would you like some tea?"

"What did you do to my daughter?" Hiashi said, impassively, but with anger tinting his voice slightly.

"I've done plenty of things to your daughter." Hikari said innocently, she knew the perverse connotations of her statement, but it was worth it to see his blank demeanor falter for a second while he squirmed. "You'll have to be more specific than that."

"How did you teach my daughter to use that fighting style?" He clarified, his eyes narrowed as she set about making her tea.

"If you're asking about that, you should be visiting Kakashi-Sensei, he is her teacher after all. He's got the title and everything." Hikari's voice hinted at sarcasm. She didn't like this man, and the feelings were reciprocated in full.

"I am perfectly aware of your modified Gentle Palm Technique." He said dryly.

"Well, it's something I've picked up after sparring with the Hyuga clan since I was in the Academy. You really learn a lot in those formative years." She said as she rifled through her refrigerator. She knew that the fact that she wasn't giving him her full and undivided attention was making the man seethe, even if he was wearing an impassive mask over it.

"I do not appreciate playing games." The veins in his neck were subtly pulsing. His temper was rising.

Hikari smiled in spite of herself. "I do not appreciate people breaking into my house without my permission to do so." It was a bit of a strange additive, but it was true, so she might as well have made that addendum. "If Hinata has chosen to learn something different from the rest of the Hyuga, why not let her? It isn't like she wasn't already ostracized from the Hyuga family. She's been using that fighting style since before she became a shinobi and you are just now realizing it." Hikari sighed. "I don't know if I should be relieved or appalled at your ignorance."

"I will not be insulted!" He said as he activated his Byakugan.

"Did I get under your skin, Hiashi-Sama? The fact that a clan that prides itself on their sight pulls a blind eye when it comes to their own clan heir? You wrote her off as a failure and tossed her away, but now that you realize her potential, you decide it's time to stake your claim on her again?" Hikari's anger swelled and she activated her Sharingan. "After all the effort I went through to comfort her after you, her own father, brought her to tears. All the nights that she refused to return home because she hated being in a place that looked down on her and told her she was a failure. All the hours of blood and sweat that Hinata poured herself into, so that she could become strong enough to help the people she loved." Hikari's eyes narrowed and drilled into Hiashi. "I was more of a parent than you were."

Hiashi growled angrily. To say he had been absent since Hinata's time at the Academy would be an understatement. After Hinata had shown no abilities to be a powerful clan head, he had gone out of his way to avoid and dismiss her, preferring to give his time and attention to Hanabi. Hinata had grown, and grown significantly, since her defeat at the hands of her younger sister. "Whatever it is you've done. You've made my daughter stronger and more confident. For that I will thank you." His eyes narrowed. "But I do not like you, and I know that one day, you will bring disaster on this village. Just like your father." He turned and walked away from her.

Hikari heard the door slam as the kettle she had put on the stove began to boil. Hikari ground her teeth as she poured herself some calming tea (THAT WAS NOT WORKING). Hikari wanted to break both of the guy's legs. She'd never hated someone on such a deeply personal level. Everything he did made her angry. The fact that the man who had a stick up his ass so large that it rivaled most trees could have spawned a girl as sweet as Hinata was beyond her.

She angrily sipped at her tea while coming up with terrible ways to inflict pain on that man… but she probably shouldn't think that way. She shouldn't have a desire to hurt another Leaf shinobi that was one of her rules to live by. Even if that Leaf shinobi was an ass-hat who made her so angry that she felt like she could grind her teeth into a fine powder. NO MATTER!

She was going to show him, and everyone else, that she was a powerful Leaf kunoichi, and to not dismiss her as an enemy because of something as simple as her genetic background. She stomped off to her workstation and pulled out a piece and her writing utensils. She was going to revive this jutsu if it was the last thing she did.

* * *

><p>Hinata was smiling as she walked her way back to her home. For whatever reason, the jonin teacher she had been meeting had finally stopped looking at her technique like it was something dirty, and had begun actually working with her in order to improve it with kata that had been practiced by the Hyuga for years. Granted, she was still covered in dirt and bruises, but she considered them marks of victory. "I'm home." Hinata said. She wasn't completely sure if Hikari had gotten back from her mission yet, but hadn't gotten out of the habit of announcing her arrival.<p>

Her two dogs ran into the house and took up residence in her bedroom before she even had time to complain. Her boy dog was a massive brown thing whose height came up to her waist whenever he stood on all fours, with large jowls that slobbered everywhere when he got excited. Granted, due to his size, he wasn't able to speak very well in any language other than Dog. Her female was significantly smaller and more well-mannered if a bit condescending. Which was a trait that she had never associated with dogs. She had silky blond fur and she only came up to about Hinata's knee. The bigger one, Mako, had taken a liking to their kitten almost immediately. She would often be found lying down on the larger dog while taking a nap.

Hinata heard angry ruffling coming from Hikari's work room, which could of course mean that Hikari was home, or that someone had broken in and wanted some of Hikari's stuff. She activated her Byakugan and saw Hikari's familiar chakra network in a sitting position at her desk. Hinata happily glided over to where her sempai was working and saw that she was staring intently at a blank sheet of paper. As if staring at it hard enough would force it to reveal to her the secrets of the universe. "Oh no, you've snapped, and here I was hoping we'd still have a few good years left."

Hikari's left arm twitched slightly. "Welcome home, Kohai." Hikari said as she continued to stare at the sheet in front of her. "It's lovely to see you again."

"So what are you working on?" Hinata asked as she looked over her shoulder. The paper was just as blank from this angle as it had been from the doorway.

"It's a secret. All very hush-hush." Hikari turned to her Kohai and let a small smile pass over her lips. "I would tell you, but then I would have to pretend to kill you after helping you escape from Konoha under cover of darkness, and watch as your form disappeared into the distance before I begin chasing after you and we start a new life in one of the minor shinobi villages."

"That's from one of the erotic novels, you and Sensei are always reading isn't it?" Hinata said with a small smile.

Hikari sighed. Hinata used to be so much easier to tease before she realized that all of her 'plans' for their future were loosely based off of Jiraiya-Sama's novels. "Make Out Forbidden Love." She said plainly.

Hinata tried to stifle a giggle. Her Senpai was obviously in the middle of something incredibly important, even if she didn't understand the context that revolved around her staring at a blank sheaf of paper. Hinata exited the doorway to walk into the kitchen. It wasn't exactly the welcome home she had expected from Hikari, but it was nice to have her back regardless. Maybe she would make something special for the two of them. Hinata quickly checked the fridge and noted that the only thing that was let was a few old takeout boxes and a couple of eggs. She had been busy this month with training, Hikari wouldn't judge her for not keeping the fridge properly stocked… probably.

* * *

><p>Hikari didn't go to bed that night. Instead, she had a single-minded focus to work on Minato's journal. Its presence calmed her, and the simple stories the book sometimes told regarding his notes about other jutsu they were working on, and how he had succeeded or failed in some small way. It let her feel like Minato was more human. It let her get to know him better. Even if he had passed. By the time the sun began creeping over the edge of the horizon, Hikari had finally managed to finish her decoding of the journal. More by sheer dogged determination than by practiced finesse, but it got the job done so screw it.<p>

Hikari excitedly jumped up and began dancing around the room in sheer glorious victory before she realized she had spectators. Hinata, her two dogs, and the kitten lying on the big dog's back were all staring at her with a look that seemed to be a combination of humor and sheer terror. Hikari didn't think she was that bad of a dancer, but then again she could be wrong.

Hinata leaned over slightly and noticed the still completely blank sheet of paper in front of Hikari's chair. "Should I call someone?" Hinata asked with eyebrow raised. "Do you need a special kind of assistance?"

"NO!" Hikari said as she walked past the four of them. "I was just excited that I got something important done, so now I can use that lovely piece of paper you've been eyeing all day." Hikari said as she entered the bathroom to take a shower. She felt gross, and she probably looked gross too. "Did you know that we are meeting our third for the Chunin Exams today?" Hikari asked as she flipped the shower head on.

"Yea, I've been told. Apparently he's taken the exams several times, but has never gotten past the second stage." Hinata said as she began playing with her larger dogs extra skin.

Hikari poked her head out the door. "Is he incompetent?" She asked, probably not meaning to sound as rude as she did.

"Apparently he is a pretty good medic-nin, but he just doesn't really have much training in hand to hand combat." Hinata said as she continued showering her pups with love. "I think we can trust him to pull his weight. It'd be nice to have someone that could look after us if we got hurt."

Hikari and Hinata made their way into training field nine with all the nonchalance they could muster. They found the medic-nin at the center of the clearing. Almost all of the training fields that weren't specifically designed to be something else looked incredibly similar, with only minute details giving away that they were different at all.

Hikari didn't want to admit it, but he was kinda cute. He was sitting cross-legged and appeared to be in some form of meditation. He had onyx eyes and beautiful ash-grey hair, which he kept in a ponytail that extended to his upper back, with his bangs framing either side of his forehead. He wore black rimmed circular glasses that he pushed up further onto the bridge of his nose when he acknowledge that he was no longer alone in the clearing. He also wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, with a white under-shirt. Dark purple fingerless gloves with armoured plates covered his hands, and a white cloth waistband worn at an angle sat on his hips. He wore dark purple pants, and standard blue shinobi sandals, but damn did he make them look good.

_Hikari, if you start drooling I'm going to summon myself and consume him whole._

Hikari quickly snapped out of her stupor. _I wasn't thinking anything I promise._

He closed the medical textbook he was reading (He was smart too!) and looked at his two new teammates with a smile. "Hello, I'm Kabuto Yakushi. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Hello!" Hikari said with a bit more enthusiasm than she was expecting. "My name is Hikari Hebi."

"I-I am Hinata Hyuga." She only let her stutter control her for a moment. She had been practicing a lot while Hikari had been away with talking with people she wasn't already intimately familiar with. She had gotten a lot better. She had gotten really close to actually introducing herself to someone she didn't know, which she counted as a personal victory.

"Wow, I get to be on a real powerhouse of a team this time." He said with a wide smile. "The Byakugan and the Sharingan working together with a guy who's decent enough at medical jutsu." He said with a laugh. "At least I'll be able to patch you up if you get hurt." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Don't actually get hurt though, I'd rather not be forced to practice on you."

Hikari smiled behind her mask. She didn't understand what it was about the young man that she found so charming. His movement were calm and calculated, while naturally flowing with the way he chose to emphasize certain aspect of his speech. As if this basic human interaction had been calculated in order for him to seem open and inviting. Her eyes narrowed when she realized that in that small way, he was like her. Although, unlike her, he probably didn't have a snake that taught him those paltry things like human interaction.

She couldn't tell whether she was happy about the fact that she was working with someone who was wearing a mask. Of course, that was incredibly hypocritical. Granted she didn't say it made sense. Hikari pulled herself away from her thoughts and returned her attention to the grey-haired young man in front of her. "I was told that we should be doing some teambuilding exercises." Hikari said as her dark eyes locked with his own. "I was thinking Dango!" She said as she turned on her heels. "Nothing brings people together like a sweet treat!"

Kabuto looked floored as he looked to Hinata for clarification about what event had just transpired. She just shrugged and said "It's something she probably inherited from Anko."

* * *

><p>Hikari sat down and enjoyed her dango and friendly conversation. Apparently, Kabuto was the adopted son of Konoha's Chief of Medicine, which definitely explained his adeptness as a medic. He was apparently not very good at Taijutsu, but pretty good at avoiding being punched when he needed to be. Hikari was about ready to call it quits when she heard a familiar voice ring out across the dango shop.<p>

"Hikari-San! My Eternal Rival!" Lee said with far too much enthusiasm. "What daring challenges shall we partake in today to demonstrate the flames of our Youth!?"

Hikari took a bite of her dango before looking up with false surprise. "Oh, hello Lee-Kun. Did you say something?"

Lee fell on the ground with tears. "AH! Why is it that you have to be so cool!? It is just as Gai-sensei said!" He said as he lamented how youthful his eternal rival was.

"Ummm… Lee?" He looked up at her wide eyed. "We're kind of… in public right now. Do we really have to do this now? Like 'right' now?" Hikari nonchalantly motioned to the two other at her table. "How about something simple?" She said with a smile.

"VERY WELL!" He said as he jumped to his feet. "We will compete in this 'simple thing,' and if I cannot best you, then I will do one hundred squats, and if I cannot do that, then…" He continued like that for a solid four or five different things he would do if he did not win their little bet.

Hikari thought for a second. "Coin toss." She said nonchalantly. "That's what we'll do. Call it in the air." She said as she pulled a pouch containing some of her money out of one of her seals. She flipped the coin and smiled as Lee gave the coin his complete and total undivided attention.

"Tails!" he said excitedly. Hikari stood as the coin flipped in the air a few times before beginning its descent back towards the earth. She caught it out of the air and pressed it to Lee's forehead in one swift motion.

She pressed the coin slightly so that it would stick before removing her fingers. "Hmm. Tails." She flicked the coin and it went spinning into the dango shop's tip jar. "Congratulations, Lee-Kun. Looks like it is 10-1 now." Hikari said as she started walking out of the shop with her hands in her pockets. "Nice talking with you, Kabuto-Kun!" Hikari said with a smile as she exited the shop. As Hikari left, she licked her lips in anticipation, things were starting to get very interesting to say the least.

* * *

><p>Hikari dedicated all of the free-time she had available to recreating the seal that Minato had made. If it hadn't been for her daily workout routine, and the fact that Hinata would occasionally literally pull her from the house in order to get her to go to lunch, Hikari might have forgotten sunlight looked like.<p>

The seal was proving to be difficult.

The fact that it was so inexorably complicated to essentially fold the universe so that what would normally take hours or days to travel took only a single step wasn't even the biggest problem. It was the sealing array itself. The seal was recursive, folding in on itself to accomplish something that had already been completed. Trying to fill this type of seal with chakra would be like trying to fill a lake with a process that involved a water-bucket and a three mile hike. Which meant that a portion of what she had translated really were traps.

She scrapped yet another piece of paper and tossed it into her nearly empty bin, and started over again. His sealing array had been what she referred to as a chain-linked seal. In which each prong was tied to the other via a conjunctive seal array that linked two of the 'actual' sealing rays in place. Because it wasn't circular, it lacked the inherent sturdiness of the more generic sealing techniques.

It was one of the reasons she typically used circle-based sealing techniques in her homemade transport, summoning, and explosive seals. Using a link-based seal type was like trying to learn a really complicated part of another language that also occasionally threw math at you while you were trying to focus on learning it. Hikari continued her sealing. Every time she was making any progress, a new problem would suddenly emerge. Albeit, each time it was a couple minutes later into the seal.

This one would explode the first time she used it. This one might turn her inside out. This one would transport you into the thing you were trying to move to. This one would work, but after a few uses the seal would break and you'd be stuck in another dimension. There seemed to be no end to the obstinate problems this seal had. If she didn't know any better, she'd assume that the whole journal had been a big joke, and that Minato was laughing at her in the afterlife.

She angrily tossed another crumpled up sheaf of paper and tossed it into the now full bin. _I'm a ninja. Why am I attacking it head on like a juggernaut, when I could be looking at the bigger picture?_

_You weren't given any pictures. _

_No. What I'm saying is that maybe if I used some of the stuff I know about Minato, I'd be able to understand how he thinks, and act like I'm developing it from scratch. So. What do we know?_

_Well, he liked redheads._

_That's not helpful, but I appreciate the effort. He was fast, he was smart he was strong._

_Geez, get a load of Mr. Perfect over here._

_But he wasn't in your face about it. He worked so hard on sealing because he didn't find it intuitive. He was working on this from the advantage of having a different mindset than others. _It would explain why he used the chain sealing method instead of circle method. He was a different sort of guy, who didn't mind doing things the hard way if it meant it would give him results. So why would a chain seal give him better results than a circle one?

Hikari quickly began drawing up a set of sealing arrays and aligned them in a circular pattern. The circle method had too many fissure points along which the seal could break, and on top of that it had too many extraneous pieces that were required in order to maintain its form. It would be unreliable and chakra intensive not only to make, but to use.

Which meant that the chain link was somehow able to overcome these problems, and make the jutsu worth the expended chakra.

She stared at her new seal for a long time. _It shouldn't cost any chakra at all…_

_What are you talking about?_

_The seal! After activating the seal, it should use essentially zero chakra in order to use it. The seals energy source is self-sufficient after it has been activated. That's what all these stability inducing conjunctive seals! IT'S TO KEEP THE SEAL FROM OVERLOADING!_

_Great, the seal doesn't explode after a while. How does this accomplish anything?_

_Because it means this seal isn't a type of horrible combination of Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu in which I would have to accommodate for a change in chakra nature like I've been doing this whole time. It's just math! I can do math!_

Hikari quickly drew up a new seal this time it was beautifully simplistic in design. Complicated in function, but sleek, small, and consistent. She gave her seal the once over to ensure she hadn't made any basic mistakes (They would probably be considered incredibly advanced and complicated mistakes if she had been using them while making a transport seal, but instantaneous transportation was a bit of a doozy). Hikari began applying her chakra to the seal in front of her. Tingling with anticipation as she felt the seal in her hands begin to glow with her chakra.

She had used up about an eighth of her reserves when the seal in her hands buzzed to life. It wasn't so much an audible buzzing as it was a mental one. In her mind's eye, she could feel the seal pulling her towards it. An unexplainable draw on her senses. She felt like with just a thought, she would be able to bend space to her will and bring her to her seal.

She excitedly grabbed her materials and walked from her workstation towards the training fields. It would probably be a better idea to practice this kind of thing outside in some sort of clearing, far away from any enclosed spaces or walls she might find herself phased into. _What a terrible way to go. Severed in half by a wall because of my own seal._

_I am suddenly incredibly ill at ease._

Hikari laughed as she walked into her training field. It was either very late at night, or incredibly early in the morning, but Hikari honestly could not tell. Her biological clock had become exceptionally out of sorts after the first week she spent away from Team Kakashi. She weighed down her seal to keep it from fluttering away and walked a couple of yards away from it. It was strange for her to separate herself from what felt like a buoy of her existence. She could feel the seal was just a touch away, no matter how far away from it she went.

It was such a rush. Hikari pulled her consciousness to the seals position and heard a small popping sound as she saw the world from her previous viewpoint. Albeit upside down, and three feet in the air. She collapsed to the ground with an unceremonial thud. Her chin on the ground while her ass hung in the air above her head. _Sometimes being this flexible makes me feel like an idiot._

_Well, that's because right now you look like an idiot._

_Thank you, Mamoru-Kun. Your running commentary is appreciated._

Hikari stood up carefully, untangling herself from… herself as she did so. It wasn't exactly what she would have referred to as the most graceful of steps in the right direction, but she felt like she should get some points for trying.

Hikari's vision started becoming blurry as she began to feel an intense sense of vertigo. Her stomach churned and the world seemed to upend itself on its own volition. She proceeded to puke all over the ground next to where she had landed. _I'll probably need to lose some points for that. _She thought as she grabbed the paper in her hand and drunkenly stumbled her way back to her home. So there was still some work that needed to be done, obviously. She wouldn't be considered much of a threat if every time she used the Hiraishin she fell over and puked.

She was going to have to use the thing her and the girls had laughed at Kankuro for asking about when he asked which of her vials was an antidote and which was the poison. She was going to have science it up with some trial-and-error style experimenting while using a dangerous and potentially lethal technique.

_Hikari, the more you talk about this, the less appealing it becomes._

* * *

><p>Sarutobi sighed heavily. The first stage of the Chunin Exams were tomorrow, which meant that he was dealing with an even larger mountainous pile of paperwork than usual. A writ of passage and lodging had to be given for every single non-Konoha shinobi that walked into their village. This meant that he had to read the identification numbers of 66 varying genin as well as their jonin sensei. This on top of the 87 permission slips (for lack of a better word) he received from his own genin. Meant he had about 200 more papers in his stack than usual. Which was enough to make the old man want to cry.<p>

_Well, at least this means there aren't going to be any village wide disasters or jaw-dropping inconveniences for a little while. Kami knows I only suffer when I think I'm done suffering. _The instant he finished that thought he heard a knock on his door that could kindly be referred to as enthusiastic. He looked at his paperwork and noted that it was still rather stacked. _Which means I might actually get some good news for once. _He thought humorously. "Come in." He said as he pulled out his pipe and put some tobacco. If he was going to be away from his reading and signing, he might as well make it a smoke break.

A smiling Hikari walked into his office with excited energy practically emanating off of her. She was the only shinobi (besides Naruto) who actively came to him when she had something exciting to show off or was in need of advice. "Have I got something awesome to show you?" Hikari said as she pulled out a kunai and flipped it so that she was holding the blade and extending out the handle to her Hokage. Typically people would know not to have a brandished kunai in the presence of a superior, but he let the faux pas slip and motioned for his ANBU protector hidden in the corner of the office to stand down. "Would you mind holding this?"

That was a bit more unsettling. He looked down at the kunai and noticed that there was a seal tag dangling from it, twisting and turning on its string. Sarutobi chuckled. "If that is an explosive seal, I'll go down in history as the Hokage who fell for the worst assassination plot in history." He said as he got up from his chair, walked in front of his desk, and took the handle of the blade.

"Don't worry, it's much cooler than an explosion seal, check it out. I'll be right back." Hikari quickly moved down the hallway and out of view.

Sarutobi sighed as he looked at the kunai, and then his hidden ANBU. "If you survive this and I don't I'm going to be the laughing stock of the five great nations…" he jokingly lamented. Suddenly, with a strange black pop, Hikari appeared instantaneously in front of him. Albeit on her ass, and a few feet to his left.

"Ta-da!" Hikari said as she stood up and massaged her rump. "I still have a few quirks I need to work out, creating the seal takes a lot of chakra, but it is reusable, and I need to work on being able to maintain my orientation and momentum while I use it, but there you go!" Hikari said as she motioned to the seal excitedly in front of her. "A teleportation seal."

The Hokage looked like he had just suffered a moderate to severe heart attack as he dropped the kunai from his grasp. "You-You… the… h-how?" He seemed to have a far off look in his eyes as he looked down at the kunai, no doubt remembering his student's student.

Hikari was not happy about the fact that she would have to lie to her Hokage, but Danzo had given her access to the journal that was a village secret at best and forbidden jutsu at worst. She had been tasked at covering for him, so cover she would. "Well, I was reading up a bit on the Yondaime, when I came upon something pretty cool. It was said that he was given the nickname 'Yellow Flash' because he was so fast, and that he was proficient in fuinjutsu, but the more I read up on it, the more it seemed that he didn't so much as move quickly as teleport across the battlefield using special kunai he made. So, I thought that maybe I could try creating my own teleportation fuinjutsu, just as a pet project of mine, AND I DID IT!" Hikari pumped a fist in the air excitedly as she danced around the still bewildered Hokage. "LOOK OUT ROCK-NIN THERE'S A NEW FLASHER IN TOWN!" Hikari paused in her dance when she realized what it was she had just said out loud, and heard a small snicker coming from the corner of the room. "That… that was supposed to mean something cool…"

Sarutobi had to literally drop the pipe on his shoe and burn his foot before he snapped out of it. He put both of his arms on Hikari's shoulders and looked down at the young girl intensely. "Hikari, that is an S-class level jutsu, whose existence has created a lot of very powerful, very dangerous enemies. I do not want to see you using that until you have at least mid-jonin level Taijutsu skills. I would also prefer you to have a bit more Ninjutsu hitting power than just the Chidori and the Grand Fireball." He looked at the young lady in front of him and let out a small smile. "Of course, what you've accomplished here is amazing, and I'm very proud to see how much it is you've improved." Despite how hard he tried, when Hikari looked up at him, he saw his former student's face, mirrored perfectly. Everything except her eyes was a perfect match for his former student, and his mind unconsciously tugged him into the past.

Orochimaru had also been desperate to please, to hear words of encouragement from his sensei, his father-figure. It wouldn't hurt. If just this once, he pretended. Just for a moment. Pretended that Hikari was his young student before his mind had fallen to darkness. Pretended that Orochimaru was still here, protecting the village from its enemies. Pretended that Sarutobi hadn't been a failure who had failed to secure his village's future by losing their three strongest shinobi. Pretended that all was as it should be. That he could retire, see his grandchild marry, and live out the rest of his days watching the birds soar in the air without fear for his peoples' future.

He pulled Hikari into a hug. She just kind of stood stock still. Afraid to move. She didn't get hugs. She'd given them, when she wanted to annoy Kankuro, or embarrass Gaara, or when she had a nightmare, and she would instinctively seek out Hinata's warmth. It was never something given to her. The concept was foreign, and she was not prepared for this. _His eyes looked so lost. _Passed through Hikari's mind as she remembered the far-off look her Hokage had moments before. When he had paused for a few seconds and smiled warmly at her. _It's because he isn't seeing you. _A voice in the back of her mind informed her. Her left hand trembled imperceptibly. _Just like everyone else, he doesn't see you when he looks. _The voice was cruel, and hearing it made her heart ache. Like someone had put a Kunai in between her ribs while she hadn't been paying attention. _You're just a replacement for his lost student. _The voice teased, it felt like someone was turning the kunai, ripping her heart into tiny fragments. _A second chance. You're not even your own person._

_Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?_ She could feel her heartbeat erratically pumping blood throughout her body as her lungs refused to take in any of the precious oxygen she needed. _Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? _She pushed herself away from his embrace, and pulled herself to one of the practice seals she had left in her room. _Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? _She landed on the floor with a crash and curled into a small ball next to her workstation. _Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? _Her eyes watered and she could feel bile crawling its way up her throat.

_Who am I?_


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note:

Alright, I'll admit that I've definitely got a problem. I've been churning these things out like… butter I guess. It's because I've just been so excited to get to this part. It's when I really get to start telling Hikari's story, and there is going to be a time-skip up to a few months before Shippuden starts (You'll find out why this chapter NOW YOU HAVE TO READ IT BWAHAHAHAHAHA). Uhhh… anyway I really hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Please give it a Favorite or a Review, let me know if you've been using it for bathroom reading, I just get a little arrhythmia every time I see that someone's enjoying what I've been dolling out.

ENJOY YOU FANTASTIC PEOPLES! (Also, just as an emotional heads up. Shit gets sad.)

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><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 18

Hikari escaped. Escaped into the deepest corners of her mind where she could be alone. Alone. Completely and painfully alone. She wouldn't have to deal with the stares, the whispers, the resentment. No matter how good the mask, they always saw him in her.

Who was she?

She'd given everything for Konoha. Lived for it. Killed for it. Became they monster she had never wanted to be so that she could protect it. But they didn't see her. No. Never her. Always him. She didn't exist. They expected great things from her, because of him. They tolerated her, because of him. They made exceptions for her, because of him.

Who was she?

She had wanted to kill him so bad. So bad. If she killed him, they would finally see her. See that she wasn't him. See that she just wanted them to approve of her. See that she just wanted to protect them. But they couldn't see her. No one saw her. She didn't exist.

Who was she?

She was just another type of his existence. Designed and created at his whim. Given her eyes to make him stronger. Given her skills to make him stronger. Given her body to make him stronger. She couldn't kill him. She was him. He had made sure of that.

And even if she succeeded? Even if she rode into town with his corpse in tow? Would they finally see her? Would they finally see that she didn't want to be him? Would they finally see…

No. They would not. You are a monster. You were born a monster. You will always be a monster. They will only ever see you as a monster. To be pointed in a direction and told to kill. Kill. Kill. How many lives have you taken? How many corpses left lying in the dust? How many bodies burned to ash? How many people have you made suffer?

"You will bring disaster on this village." Hiashi's words rang through her subconscious. Peeling like a bell over and over. She would be a disaster. She would make them feel pain.

They don't trust you. Won't trust you. They want to use you. They want to make you him. He was stronger. He was smarter. He was faster. He was better. If you were him, the village would be better off. If you were him, the people would be safer. If you were him, everyone would be happy.

Who are you?

She was who she needed to be. Who was she when she wasn't needed? So many masks. She didn't even remember anymore. Her existence was that of a tool. Useful in the hands of an artist, but lacking vitality.

She didn't want to be a tool. She didn't want to become him. She didn't want to be alone anymore.

But didn't she say she would do anything for them? Didn't she make them that promise? To go down any road, no matter how dark, if it would protect those precious to her? Could she live with this hurt? Could she live with this hate? Could she keep her promise to her first?

No. Hikari couldn't.

Which meant that Hikari had to go. Hikari would have to die, and someone else would take her place. Hikari was just another mask after all. She could be discarded and replaced with a new one. One who would not feel the hurt. One who could survive the stares. One who could do whatever was necessary.

And that wasn't Hikari.

Hikari would have to go.

Hikari opened her eyes. No. That wasn't right. Hikari was gone. She didn't need her anymore. The world around her held a strange clarity. Even more so than when she had her Sharingan activated. She righted herself and brought her attention to her workstation across the room. She could see everything. The dust particles in the air. The slight imperfections of the ink she used. The way the brush moved in slightly imperfect ways as she penned down a few more Hiraishin seals. She saw everything. With practiced precision. Detached. Emotionless. She would need a name. A new name for the new her.

Hikari meant light. So why not Kurai? Hikari had been weak. Hikari had been sentimental. Kurai would do things that Hikari could not. Kurai would not hate. Would not anguish. Would not love. She would feel pain, and deal it to her enemies.

Kurai would bring peace to Konohagakure, and she would be able to do it at any cost. If her presence would bring disaster to her home, then she would make her presence a non-issue. She would protect Konoha from a distance.

Kurai finished applying chakra to two of the seals. She laid down her two seals and felt the telltale pulse from the Hiraishin seal that was still laying in the Hokage's office. She pulled herself to its location and landed squarely on her feet in front of it as she surveyed her surroundings. No one was here. She hadn't expected him to have been in, it was the middle of the night after all. She picked up her kunai and pulled herself back into her work room.

She walked into Hikari's old bedroom and watched Hinata sleep for a few seconds. Her dogs piled up in the sheets around her. When Hikari had slept in that bed she had not appreciated the scent of dog pulling at her nostrils, but the comfort of her pack had made Hinata happy. Making Hinata happy had made her happy. Kurai would allow Hikari one last action. She would allow her one more moment of sentiment. One last moment of weakness. Kurai placed one of her kunai with the Hiraishin seal at Hinata's bedside table. She kissed the young girl on her cheek and wished her sweet dreams, told her to be strong, told her to forgive.

Kurai killed the last vestiges of love in her heart as she pulled away from the small embrace. She did what had to be done, and now she would leave. She would protect Konoha. She would do it to her dying breath, but she could not live in the city any longer. She would get stronger by herself. She would kill Orochimaru by herself. That was the way it would have to be. She would allow no one to get in her way.

She collected up everything she owned and placed them in various seals around her form. When she looked into the mirror, she saw that her eyes had once again changed in shape. A triangle around the center of her, with thick lines moving from the middle of each side of the triangle into a small ball at its center. Mangekyo Sharingan. Kurai's expression did not change as she deactivated her next level Sharingan. So, she didn't have to kill a precious person in order to activate it. She just had to kill herself. A pity she would be unable to share this revelation with Sasuke.

She quietly exited her home and began walking down the north road. The only avenue out of town. It would not require much effort to sneak her way past the chunin gate guards. There were other ways out the village than the front door after all. She silently took in the sights her home had to offer. She didn't expect she would be seeing it for a very long time if she ever saw it again. She was doing what would be best for her home.

Konoha had enemies, and she would destroy them.

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><p>Hinata woke up from her sleep and turned to see if Hikari had actually come to bed tonight. She'd been pulling all-nighters a lot more than usual lately. When Hinata found her bed distinctly devoid of other human life she sighed. She got up and looked over at her bedside table to find a kunai with some strange type of seal tied to the end of it. Hinata stretched as she pulled the blankets of off her form. "That's strange. If she finished what she was working on, why not come to bed?"<p>

Hinata picked up the Kunai and observed it for a few seconds. She had no idea what it was that this particular seal did, but if Hikari had been working on it for as long as she had, it probably wasn't something as simple as a one of her explosive seals. She activated her Byakugan. She noticed that the entire house was devoid of Hikari's presence. She could understand Hikari not being there, Hikari often went on very early morning workouts, but everything Hikari had owned was simply gone.

She wouldn't have just packed up and left. She couldn't have just packed up and left. There were gate guards and border security officers and ANBU who regularly patrolled the forest around Konoha.

It was fine. It was probably just her wanting to be over prepared for the Chunin Exams. That would explain why Hikari had packed everything with the exception of the kitchen sink. She probably would have packed the kitchen sink if it wasn't for the fact that it was essentially bolted into the wall. She'd meet up with them at the first part of the Exam. There was nothing for her to worry about.

_This kunai might be like a good luck charm of some sort. _Hinata said as she turned it around in her palm. _Hikari had never been a big fan of kunai. She always thought they were a bit clunky. Maybe this is a reference to one of her weird porno books. I should probably start reading those if i want to understand her weird inside jokes. _Hinata blushed violently at the thought of the content those books held and immediately pushed that thought to the furthest reaches of her mind.

But Hikari didn't show up at the Exam registration area. Which was exorbitantly unlike her, she might have adopted Sensei's propensity for tardiness, but that typically did not extend to things that were incredibly important like the Chunin Exams.

Hinata quickly left to find her Sempai. There had to be somewhere she could find her. Perhaps she was doing last minute training and had lost track of time? Hinata thought as she ran from the building towards their usual training grounds. Kabuto close at her heels. He seemed to be incredibly distressed, and he had a right to be, Hinata thought.

She searched all over Konoha for her Sempai, but could not find hide nor hair of her. Kabuto breathed heavily behind her. "Where did she go?" He asked between ragged breaths.

Hinata took a few second to calm herself. She was not ready for casual conversation with Kabuto when it was just the two of them (She had only known him for a month after all). "I-I don't know. Sh-she isn't in any of her usual s-spots." Hinata was quiet as a mouse. And scared. Hikari was the first person Hinata had ever spoken to casually without stuttering on a semi-regular basis, and consequently her closest friend. She couldn't-wouldn't just leave without telling her goodbye. She wouldn't leave period.

"We should inform the Hokage. If she's been taken against her will, we should get a team out immediately." He said professionally. "I'll see if I can find an ANBU to help us out. You go on ahead." Hinata took to the rooftops and made her way to Hokage Tower with all haste. "This isn't Lord Orochimaru's doing… Has Danzo made a move already?" He quickly moved himself to where Orochimaru was waiting for him and the other sound genin. _He will not be pleased in the slightest._

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><p>Sarutobi sat at his desk. Not even bothering to look at the mountain of paperwork beside him. He was in the midst of an intense session of self-recrimination and loathing. He would be slamming his head into the desk right now if it weren't for the fact that ANBU Gecko was hiding in his office protecting him. Right now all she was doing was getting in the way of his moping.<p>

He had been very wrong when he thought that pretending, if just for a moment, that Hikari was his old student wouldn't hurt anyone. She had been hurt. He had seen the look in her eyes when she pushed himself away from her. She looked betrayed. Hikari had trusted him implicitly as her Hokage, and when he looked at her and saw Orochimaru she was crushed. She had been incredibly vocal about her decision to kill Orochimaru for the sake of the village. Him seeing her as the entity that she wanted dead in the world most was undoubtedly heartbreaking for the young girl. He hoped that she would be able to forgive him, he had grown quite fond of her.

He looked over at the clock towards his left. The first stage of the Exams had already been completed, and no doubt Anko was making one of her 'Grand Entrances' to make a strange first impression on the potential chunin. He imagined Hikari breaking Anko's banner and the two of them getting into a heated argument over the relative importance of banners in the shinobi lifestyle. Then, Anko would probably grope someone in all likelihood it would be the bustiest kunoichi she could find. Granted she would be in a room full of thirteen year olds. He let out a small chuckle in spite of himself. The self-proclaimed 'most beautiful dango mistress of Konoha' had a strange effect on Hikari. She had a strange effect on people in general.

He just hoped Hikari didn't hate him forever for what he'd done. He hated himself far too often to be able to handle the knowledge that one of the shinobi he was particularly fond of despised him. He had done many things as a shinobi that often made it hard to sleep at night, but a betrayal on a personal level was a new one that he would be adding to the list.

He once again felt an untenable desire to smash his face into his desk.

He heard a knock on his door. He had purposely cancelled all of his appointments for today so that he could reflect on his actions and self-flagellate. Which meant that whoever had come to disturb him had a reasonably good reason to. He sighed sadly. "Come in." he said unenthusiastically. It was obviously going to be bad news. No one ever asked for an emergency conference with him when something good happened. It was never 'Hokage-Sama! I'm afraid I have made too many delicious cookies and I don't know what to do with them!' Of course, right now he didn't deserve cookies.

The door was opened by Hinata Hyuga. Which was surprising to say the least. She should be at the Forest of Death, getting ready for the second portion of the Exam with Hikari, Kabuto, and Anko. She didn't have time to be here. The girl stood in his presence, twiddling her fingers nervously. "Is something wrong, Hinata-Chan?" He said as he put a smile on his features. _No use making her feel worse by looking as bad as I feel._

"I-It's about Hikari-Sempai, H-Hokage-Sama." He felt his heart skip a beat as his disguised smile failed him, and fell immediately into a grimace. The girl flinched, but at his provocation spoke once more. "I-I can't find her." The little girl looked like she was going to break down into tears. "She w-wasn't home this morning, and w-we didn't see her at th-the exams. S-so we went looking around Konoha for h-her, but couldn't f-find her anywhere." A few tears started rolling down her face as she continued. "I-I would have t-talked to Sensei first, b-but I couldn't f-find him."

The girls hand grasped around something in her kunai pouch, but Sarutobi didn't take notice of it. He was too busy damning himself for making another Leaf shinobi run away. He looked at the ANBU guard. "Get me Kakashi Hatake right away. Hinata, prepare for a tracking mission and arrive at the North Gate in twenty minutes. If she's been taken, we need to get you and Kakashi on their tails straight away. I'll send a chunin squad after the two of you get on your way."

Hinata nodded and sprinted from his presence towards her home. Sarutobi's grimace widened. She hadn't been taken. There was no doubt in his mind that he had failed once again. Failed to see something so painfully obvious.

Hikari was a broken person, but it was broken people who so often made excellent shinobi. Kakashi was one of Konoha's finest, but was incredibly maladjusted to civilian life. It was one of the reasons he had been comfortable putting the two of them together. He hadn't realized Hikari was as broken as she was though. She had faked her way through the routine psych profiles and she typically used her darker tendencies in an effort to protect or avenge the weak.

His single oversight had been enough to turn her from a broken person into a shattered one, and Kami only knew how Hikari was going to pick up the pieces.

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><p>"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE!?" Orochimaru seethed. Almost pulling out the throat of Kabuto for delivering him such news. "She's the only reason we are in this kami-damned village, and you're here telling me she's run away?" He cackled maniacally. "This is unforeseen to say the least." He said while still chuckling. "Send word to our best trackers, and if we catch sight of her, I want word sent to me and the Sound Four immediately."<p>

He didn't understand the sudden change in his daughter that resulted sometime before the Chunin Exams, but if he could get his teams to capture her before Konoha caught wind, then his plan would go off without a hitch. He chuckled darkly to himself. It was almost too perfect. Loyal little Hikari, running away from her shelter and into a den of vipers.

He would not settle for second best. He would find her, and he would take her body as her own. She was his perfect little experiment, who had turned out monumentally better than he had ever imagined. His daughter, for the first time he had a reason to thank the Leaf Village. They had done a wonderful job at making her appetizing.

He licked his lips in anticipation. He could wait. Wait as long as he needed to for those eyes.

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><p>Flashback:<p>

"Neji?" Hikari asked as the two lay down to watch the clouds. This was typical for the two shinobi. After some time spent sparring, the two would often sit around for half an hour. Merely watching the clouds float overhead (Neji was more partial to watching birds.). he 'hmphed' to demonstrate that he had heard what she'd said. "Does it make sense for me to love a forest if I hate its trees?"

He sighed. "Why is it every time we discuss personal philosophy, you start it off with a weighted question?" She just shrugged. Helpful as always. "I guess, if you don't like trees, it doesn't make much sense that you would like many trees in one place, but maybe it isn't the trees you like about the forest. Maybe it's the animals, or the other flora, or just simply the lay of the land you find beautiful." He paused for a second to add. "Personally, I'm a fan of the birds."

Hikari seemed amused. "When did you get so chatty? I was expecting a single syllable word, or maybe a 'tch' of dismissal. I must say I'm glad to see how much you've grown." He turned to her and 'tched' as he returned his attention to the sky above. "If… If I found out how to remove the Caged Bird Seal. Would you accept it?"

Neji seemed surprised by her words. His eyes narrowed as he took a few long seconds to think before arriving at an answer. "No."

"There's that monosyllabic response I was looking for!" She said as she jokingly punched the Hyuga boy in the arm. "Glad to see you'll never change, pretty boy."

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><p>Kakashi was sitting at the jonin bar with Asuma and Kurenai. He wasn't particularly friendly with them, but they were all the sensei of the group that had be termed the "Rookie Nine" which meant they were kindred spirits of a sort… Either that, or they were all idiots who'd just sent a bunch of newbies to the death. Kakashi really hoped it was the second one.<p>

He'd grown quite fond of his teams. Naruto was loud, but meant well. Sakura was violent, but deep down she cared about all of them. Sasuke was quiet, but so used to being alone that he didn't interact well with others. He was almost ready to admit that Hikari had done a better job making them a team than he did… not yet though. He had several students, but only one apprentice. Hikari held a special place in his heart for some reason.

Maybe it was because he had been entrusted with her life. Kami knows how well that went down last time, but this time would be different. The two of them might joke about how much they annoyed one another, but he knew he could trust her and she could trust him. It was almost adorable how Hikari would try to protect him when they were fighting.

It wasn't her fault that he had almost two decades of combat experience on her. That's what happens when you're sent to war when your six years old. She always gave everything her all though. Even when he disguised those practical jokes as 'training exercises,' she'd always get them done… Has she given Akamaru his bone back?

He chuckled lightly to himself. If he knew Hikari she almost definitely hadn't. She was teaching Kiba a lesson, and she'd be damned if she was going to go easy on him. She was just so adamant about making those around her stronger.

Kakashi looked at the other two jonin. They were sharing stories of their assorted genin teams' quirky nature. Kakashi thought that he probably won the quirk war, but didn't care enough to weigh in on the subject matter. He hadn't seen Hikari and Hinata come in, which meant that they had probably gotten there early. Where had he gone wrong? He thought for sure they would try to emulate their beloved sensei in more ways than just wearing a mask.

Hikari had absorbed his devil may care attitude when it came to interacting with people, and she had gotten really good at intimidating people while still giving off an air of general laziness. Hinata… Hinata tried really hard, but she lacked confidence. Even after spending years with Hikari, she was still quite quiet. He wondered how it was she managed that. Hikari had a rather… abrasive personality. He could probably pin that one on Anko.

It wasn't that he was going to take credit for her good parts and deflect blame for her faults… ok maybe a little, but he did put in a lot of effort into making her a damn good shinobi.

He felt an ANBU flicker amongst the three of them, and lazily opened his eye to observe ANBU Gecko standing before him. Her body language seemed panicked, no not panicked more like urgent. "Kakashi, Hokage-Sama would like to speak to you right away. It's about Hikari."

She had barely finished her sentence before Kakashi had shunshined as close as he could to the Hokage Tower. Sprinting the rest of the way as fast as his chakra empowered legs would take him. He sprinted to the Hokage's door and kicked it open. "What happened to Hikari?"

The Sandaime looked to be in a great deal of pain. Like the mention of his apprentice had taken a year off of his life. "She is no longer in Konoha, I would like you to go with Hinata to track her, and bring her back to the village. I fear that she may be suffering." The Hokage put a hand to his heart and winced. "Hurry! Time is of the essence."

Kakashi shunshined out of the Sandaime's presence and immediately headed for the gate. If Hikari had been taken, he should have known before now. How long had she been gone? Who had taken her? How many had taken her? How had they managed to do it without creating some sort of scene? All of these questions with no answers.

He would find her, he had to. He wasn't going to let them write another one of his people become names on the Memorial Stone.

He summoned Pakkun and filled him in as he made haste to the gate where Hinata was already waiting for him with dogs of her own. He was one of the best trackers that Konoha had to offer, no way were they getting away with this.

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><p>Kurai made her way south with as quickly as she could, while being careful not to leave a trail to follow. They were going to try to bring her back, her eyes were too valuable a commodity. It wasn't because they cared about her. She had torn her mask that Kakashi had given her into pieces, and used her Beast Domination genjutsu to tell the birds to fly with it in a fan pattern leading away from Konoha.<p>

As Kurai moved towards her unknown destination, she activated her newly acquired Mangekyo Sharingan. What powers had she managed to acquire now that it was active? She remembered that other Mangekyo Sharingan of the past had the ability to create unquenchable fires, inescapable genjutsu, something akin to mind control. It was strange to think that something like this could have given the Uchiha Clan nearly unlimited power.

_If the Uchiha hadn't been killed… They might have taken over the world._ _Was that what Itachi had hoped to accomplish? Destroy the Uchiha, become the only one with this strength, take over the world._

_But why wouldn't he kill Sasuke if that was the case? _

_It's so that he doesn't go blind. _Hikari realized as her mind wandered to the tablet that Sasuke had shown her. The more she thought about it, the more she came to understand Itachi Uchiha. He was going to use his brother to ensure that his sight could never be taken away from him. What was an Uchiha without his eyes?

_Hikari, there is something else the Hebi clan can teach you, but it will take years for you to master, and that's if you even survive long enough to learn it. I didn't tell you about it when we first trained at Ryuchi Cave, because it's incredibly dangerous._

_Name's not Hikari, Mamoru-Kun. Hikari was a broken mask I've tossed away. I am Kurai._

_I think you should come to Ryuchi Cave. There's someone there who's wanted to see you for a long time._

_Fine, reverse summon me. _Kurai felt her body pulled across time and space as she appeared before Manda. Kurai bowed her head reverently. "Good afternoon, Manda-Sama." She said, utterly emotionlessly.

Manda eyed her cautiously before moving from his usual coiled position in his throne to in front of her. "If you're going to accomplish your dreams, you're going to need the strength that only the serpents can give you." He moved to reveal a cavern behind where he usually sat. "In there lies the Great White Snake Sage. He can give you strength beyond what you could possibly imagine, but if you fail… If you fail, I lose a daughter."

"Worried about me, Tousan?" Kurai said as she walked past him and entered the mouth of the cave. "I'm a big girl, but it's nice to hear that you care." She said quietly as she continued walking. "I wouldn't worry, I haven't let you down before." Her words lacked any emotion or inflection. Just words.

Kurai walked a long and circuitous path in the darkness. The cave was wet, and cold clung to her skin as tightly as any of her clothes did. Why would a snake choose to take residence in such a dark and dreary place? The path began to lead down. Down into the depths of Ryuchi Cave. She felt like she had been walking for hours when she walked through an archway. The lettering glowed green in the darkness. She averted her eyes for a second, to allow them to adjust to this new brightness. "Become One or Die." Kurai read as she passed under the archway and into the clearing.

What had once been cold and damp immediately transformed into an ever-present heat and dryness that rivaled the deserts of Suna. Kurai balked at the sudden change in climate before she heard a voice from in front of her. "So, this is the little hatchling that Manda's so fond of?" The serpentine voice was amused by what he saw.

Kurai quickly took in her surroundings. She was in a large room with strange snake glyphs along the walls that led to the vaulted ceiling above her. At the far end of the room was a stone throne, with a snake carved into its right arm rest, and a cloud pattern wreathed around the bottom. Atop the throne lay a large white snake which was even longer than Manda. The snake was an extremely large, white nāga, wrapped in thick coils that fell from the throne and wrapped along themselves half-way to the high ceiling. Along these coils were yellow circular bands. It wore a strange turban with two pointed edges and a red orb on top as well as an orange headdress. It also wore a chain with a green orb around its neck. The White Snake Sage took a long drag of his cigarette from his cigarette holder and blew it into Kurai's face.

His serpentine eyes sharpened and he stared at her for a long second. She felt like his gaze was piercing through her. Into her very soul. "So, a reincarnated soul? I must say, it's been almost 300 years since I've seen you, Asahi-Sama."

Kurai's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"It matters not that you do not know, it matters that you do not think!" The large snake yelled. "If you are to become the Great Serpent Sage then you must learn how to learn!" His eyes narrowed violently. "And to do that, Asahi-Sama. You must taste death." He slithered off of his chair and leveled his head to be inches away from her own. Her left hand shivered slightly. "If you are to fulfil your destiny. You must be a foil for the child of prophecy. You must be what he has to overcome. Your death will bring peace to the world. You will be hated, reviled, universally despised, but through this they will unite against you to bring peace. Do you accept your role, Asahi-Sama?"

Kurai's eyes widened in surprise. If she could bring peace to the shinobi world, then she wouldn't need to worry about her precious people being hurt anymore. She was already hated, it didn't matter to her whether it went down into the history books. "I accept my role in the darkness!" Kurai said as she locked eyes with the great serpent in front of her. "Do what must be done!" The serpent opened its mouth wide, and sank its fang into her heart. She could feel fire coursing through her veins. She could feel her blood boiling beneath her skin, as it threatened to break to the surface and tear her to pieces. She could feel her already fragile form burn away as the all-consuming heat tore ripped flesh, tore muscle, and broke bones.

She writhed in agony as her body fell to the cavern floor and begged for it to finally kill her. Kill her. KILL HER!

But the pain didn't stop. For what felt like days her screams tore across the cavern as the snake's bite pulsed its way into every cell in her being. Tearing and reforming. Tearing and reforming.

And then it was done. She laid in a pool of her own sweat and blood before the large white snake. Her whole body ached with such an intensity that she couldn't move. Her tongue was swollen and her mouth utterly void of water. Her heart was beating with such an intensity, that she felt it would pound out of her very chest. She took in heavy breaths, each one filling her body with pain and precious oxygen.

"Good. Now that you have survived, your training will truly begin." The large white snake took a drag from his cigarette. "The fun's just getting started."

* * *

><p>Kakashi came to a stop. The trail just ended. Her trail had completely vanished. Whoever had taken Hikari had managed to take her mask and spread her scent all over the forest. There had been so many dead ends from birds that had been given a part of her mask, so much time wasted, and now she was gone. Disappeared entirely, as if she had never even existed.<p>

Kakashi had failed again.

* * *

><p>OMAKE! BECAUSE SHIT GOT DARK AND I NEED TO PUT SOME HUMOR IN HERE OR IM GOING TO CRY!<p>

Anko balled it up and put yet another draft into the trash can. If she was going to make a first impression on a bunch of snot nosed brats, it was going to be a damned good one. AND THIS TIME IT WAS GOING TO BE SPEAR PROOF! That little brat had a habit of finding her banners and destroying them.

The only question now, was what to write on it that gave the kiddies a combination of admiration and pant-shitting terror. That was the way Anko lived her life.

'Dango mistress' was out. She'd already used that one before, and it was a little plain Jane for her tastes… also Hikari had set it on fire so there was that.

'Konoha's Biggest Baddest Bitch' was also out. She didn't personally have a problem with cursing in front of kids, (they are just tiny adults who haven't learned the ways of the world) but the hokage was probably watching, which meant that she could only pull out the moderate insanity. She estimated about 40% of her crazometer.

She did have some of the largest breasts in the village, Hikari herself had said so, which meant that she could probably use that to her advantage somehow. Although her first banner had something to that effect, and Hikari had torn it into tiny pieces.

Where did I go so right in teaching that girl?


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note:

Alright guys, we are finally going to get back to our roots of the funny! I wasn't very happy about Hikari having a psychotic break, I felt like I was actually hurting her, but I'm keeping it. Her psych profile is still pretty abysmal. Multiple personalities, hearing voices, severe dependency issues, She is still a pretty fucked up human being, but like I always say, if she was normal, she probably wouldn't be our protagonist. Alright, well I haven't actually said that before… BUT IT APPLIES! Regardless, I really hope that you enjoy what you read, and keep up your incredibly conditional love and support! :D

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><p>Eyes of the Predator<p>

Chapter 19

Hikari bowed before the Great White Snake Sage seated in front of her. Her hair had gotten longer while she had been training, her long black locks now hovered behind her knee while she stood at attention, in her current position on one knee, it pooled around her. She would need to get it cut. Her usual attire had been changed as well. She still wore her long-sleeved grey shirt, black pants, and black sandals, but over that she wore a short-sleeved white coat that went down to her knees, with a black esoteric snake pattern wreathed around the hemline. The purple markings she had around her eyes reached the bridge of her nose, and then kept falling to reach the sides of her lips, like purple tears.

"You will need to become even stronger then what we have made you if you are to fulfill your destiny, but my part in your path is complete. You know what it is that must be done. I trust you to do it. Rise, Kurai, Sage of the Serpent." The large white snake took a long drag of his cigarette.

How did he manage to get a cigarette that big? Did the snakes grow it themselves? You'd think she would have found out after three years in this cave, but she'd never actually seen him change out cigarettes. There was just a new one every time she turned away. It was like Kakashi and his mask.

Kurai slowly moved up to a standing position. Stretching before a wide smile spread across her cheeks. "It's about time!" She said excitedly. "It means I finally get to leave! Do you understand how hard it was to go through puberty without any eye candy? I mean, snakes are well and good and all, but you aren't the most attractive of creatures. It's not your fault, the Kami didn't give your species a butt, but I should have been allowed a couple of Sabbaticals every once in a while!" Kurai said with a fire in her eyes.

"Why did I let you keep those books…?" The snake said as he slowly shook his head. "I realize you like playing the fool, but just try not to embarrass us." He sounded exhausted, like the weight of Kurai's personality had made him feel as old as he was.

"Oh, come one! Snakey-Sama! If I'm going to be hated, I might as well make it a bit amusing. I wonder if Jiraiya's come out with more books yet? Now that I'm done, I can go check right?" She said enthusiastically.

"You are free to go, but I would suggest that you go about killing Orochimaru quickly. The longer he's in possession of the snake summons, the more disgusted I become." The sage said gravely.

"Sweet, about these clothes… do I have to wear this robe?"

"YES, NOW GET OUT!"

* * *

><p>Kurai looked onto the gates of Konoha. Three years. It had been three years since she had begun her training as a sage. She didn't feel particularly old or wizened, which was what one would typically associate with sages, but she could probably fake it until she makes it… like that one girl from the Makeout series.<p>

She nonchalantly passed through the 'bubble' that informed the border patrol that there was a person with significant chakra levels making their way towards town. She probably could have avoided it, but she wanted the attention. It was an easy way to get caught, and there was a couple of people she needed to talk to. She didn't even quicken her pace when she felt the four patrolmen take up positions around her. Unseen, of course, they weren't amateurs, but she could feel their presence as plain as day. _Time to lay on the charm._

_Please don't flirt with them. The only human interaction you've had for three years has been that porno of yours. The real world doesn't happen like that. _He was definitely moderately annoyed at her behavior. _You used to be so cute and innocent… why did I ever let you read that stuff?_

_Shh, Mamoru. I'm trying to be cutesy and you are distracting me. _"Hello, boys!" She said as she dramatically emphasized her curves (She wasn't all that curvy, she was a b-cup, but damned if she wasn't going to give it her all!). "Come to see li'l old me into town?" She could hear Mamoru smacking himself in the face all the way from Ryuchi Cave.

The four ANBU patrollers moved in front of her. ANBU Cat, Monkey, Boar, and Wolf all stood in front of her. "Name and registration." Wolf said as he eyed the strange figure in front of him.

Kurai seductively put a finger up to her mouth and rubbed it slowly across her lower lip. ANBU Cat (who was most definitely a female, that long purple hair couldn't trick Kurai) looked incredibly perturbed, but the rest of them just stood stock still. "I'm afraid I don't have one of those that's been updated, I've been out of town for a very long time. I'm just… visiting some old friends of mine."

_Please stop that. Manda doesn't like it either._

_You're no fun._

The four ANBU drew their weapons as Wolf spoke again. "In that case, we suggest that you come quietly with us."

Kurai seemed to contemplate things for a few key seconds. "Hmmm… What to do, what to do? I can't just kill the four of you, that'd be bad, I'm trying to make a decent enough first impression, but I'm also not too keen on being taken to interrogations… Can we make a deal?"

The four of them held their weaponry at the ready, waiting for some unseen command to charge at the young woman standing in front of them. "What sort of deal are you proposing?"

"I beat all of you unconscious, and you don't hold a grudge." She said as she disappeared from their line of sight. "I think this will be good enough to get the Hokage's attention." The young woman reappeared in front of ANBU Hound and tore off his mask, and then disappeared again before any of them had a chance to react.

"She's so fast!" Boar said as the ANBU created a circle so that they could see her, regardless of the angle she attacked from. Boar had barely finished his sentence when he felt his own mask get pulled from his face.

One by one, the ANBU masks were taken, and the pale girl hadn't even suffered a scratch, but she hadn't dealt one either. The girl appeared a few yards away wearing Cat's mask. "This one's pretty cute, do you wear it for your boyfriend? I mean, I know cat-girls are a bit of a fetish for some people, but I just never really understood why." She stood still after that, as if honestly expecting an answer from the only girl on the team.

There were quite a few seconds of awkward silence. "SHE TOTALLY DOES!" The girl said as she began excitedly jumping around. She tossed it back over to her. "You can keep that one, I'd hate to get in the way of a blossoming love." As soon as she finished her sentence, she appeared in front of Wolf and kicked him squarely in the chest, knocking him into the forest where his body connected with a tree with an audible crack. "That's gonna hurt later." She said as she dodged underneath the surprised swing of her opponent's ninjato. She nimbly moved out of the way and then teleported up into the trees with an audible pop and a flash of black.

The girl drew four senbon, and licked the edge of each one. "Now… If you promise to stay still, I promise that you won't be in as much pain as that guy is in." The girl tossed a kunai, which Boar easily dodged before she appeared exactly where the kunai had landed, and stabbed two senbon into Boar and Monkey each. The two were very still for a second, before collapsing to the ground. Leaving only her, and Cat remaining. "Alright, ANBU Kitty Sexfiend, you are the lucky winner of today's who gets to stay conscious extravaganza!" She said as she excitedly waved her hands in the air. "Tiny stipulation. I have to tie you up."

Cat balked and held up her sword to block any incoming attack. "I know, I know. Usually you'd have to pay someone for this kind of service, and here I am. Just giving it away for free. Well, I'm going to the village to get some much needed info, and I can't have you just running up to the Hokage, telling him that I beat you up and stole your lunch money." Kurai paused for a second. "You might as well just put your sword down, I've already tied you to the tree. Genjutsu is just so awesome."

Cat blinked and felt chakra wire cutting into her wrists and ankles that were tied behind her back as she suspended in mid-air. "WHAT THE HELL!" She said as she began trying to move. This was pretty embarrassing.

Kurai walked in front of the suspended Cat swinging in midair and put the mask back on her face. "I totally would have tied you up in a position that was less… kinky, but I've been reading a lot of Makeout Domination recently, and I wanted to check it out for myself." She scratched at her chin for a couple of seconds. "I'll be honest, still not a big fan. Maybe next time." As Kurai walked off she let a question escape her mouth. "Now, where's my Shishou? If memory serves, he had one of the nicest butts in the village."

And with that, Kurai made her entrance into Konohagakure.

* * *

><p>Tsunade hated this job. The paperwork was never ending, and Shizune hid her alcohol from her, and replaced it with candies. At least her other apprentice still worshipped the ground upon which she walked. Sakura had taken her training as a medic with a gusto after the Chunin Exams had finished, While Kakashi had descended into a rather severe funk. He still got that strange far off look in his eyes sometimes, and he would still occasionally barge into her office and ask to follow up on some lead he'd found that might lead him to his apprentice.<p>

It was almost sweet enough to make Tsunade forget what an impudent brat he was sometimes. ALMOST. He was pouring his everything into training Sasuke to be an excellent shinobi, but she was afraid that if he lost this one too, he'd be done for.

Naruto was off training with the self-proclaimed "Super Pervert," and was scheduled to be returning to Konoha in a couple of months. He was a sweet boy. A bit thick-headed sometimes, but he meant well, and tried his hardest at everything he did.

Hinata was the only one from that group that she didn't fully understand from that particular lot. Hinata had returned to training with such a single-minded focus, that you wouldn't even had guessed that she rarely even spoke anymore. She already displayed jonin-level talent, but her communication skills were virtually nonexistent. Any time the girl didn't spend training or on mission was spent in front of the Memorial Stone.

She'd had this damned job ever since the Sandaime had gotten incredibly sick during the Chunin Exams three years ago, she had been forced to return to Konoha to heal him, but even after that he had been too weak to resume his duty as a Hokage. He'd been almost 70 years old at the time, but it was strange to think of her old Sensei as frail.

"Wow, when did we get such a busty Hokage? Seriously, you beat out Anko with those fantastic jugs of yours. WE HAVE A WINNER!" Suddenly a bunch of confetti fell from her ceiling as a banner spread out over her door that read 'Best Tits.'

Tsunade's vein pulsed in her head. She wasn't angry at the statement, it was pretty common knowledge that Tsunade was the bustiest in the village. It was the cavalier method in which it was said. A strange pale girl fell from the ceiling and dropped three ANBU masks at her feet. Tsunade froze. "Well what do you think?" The girl was pointing at the banner behind her, and plainly ignoring the masks she had thrown on the ground. "I got the idea from an old Sensei of mine, she always did love her banners. You know, I was going to surprise her with it, but since it isn't true anymore, I thought you should have it."

Tsunade's knuckles whitened as her grip on her desk tightened and threatened to grind the edge of it into a wooden powder. The only thing that was stopping her was the fact that she'd already broken three desks this month, and didn't want to hear the scolding that Shizune would give her if she exceeded her desk budget again. "Who, pray tell, are you?" She said while grinding her teeth. She was used to dealing with frustrating and weird shinobi, but they were HER shinobi. She had no idea who this strangely dressed pale girl with the same weird eye thing as… Oh shit.

"Kurai, daughter of Orochimaru of the sanin. I would like any information you have regarding his whereabouts." Her tone was incredibly serious

Kurai? No, that wasn't right. The Sandaime had said Orochimaru's daughter had been named H-something. Did he have another daughter? Why hadn't she been informed? "Why would we want to share any of the information we have to you?" Tsunade said as her mind began working at a mile a minute.

"Because I'm going to kill him, it's a little something that needs to be done so that I can get some other things prepped." The girl said with a strange smile. "Of course, I could just take the information I want and leave, but I'd prefer staying on more affable terms with you Tsunade-Sama."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You must realize breaking into my office was a fool's errand. I've got entire teams of ANBU that are headed my direction as we speak."

"Well, then it's a good thing I have the ability to transport instantaneously along great distances." Kurai said as she pulled out a kunai and lobbed it to Tsunade. Tsunade caught the kunai in midair, they were close enough that if it was some kind of explosive seal it would probably take them both down, but Kurai lacked Tsunade's regenerative capabilities... probably. Tsunade didn't actually know anything about this girl.

She looked at the kunai for a moment and her eyes widened. "Where did you get the Hiraishin?" She asked as her grip around the kunai tightened threatening to break the metal handle of the kunai. It had a couple of slight modifications, but the overall look was the same. The only person with the ability to create a seal like this that she knew of was Jiraiya, and even he didn't use the Hiraishin (for sentimental reasons she suspected),

"I reverse engineered it with a gift someone gave me." She paused and then her face lit up like she remembered something funny. "Oh no, wait. Not a gift, it was 'an investment in my future.'" The girl said the last part trying to sound like some strange old man (she wasn't very good at impersonations). Her face looked a little guilty for a second. "I may not have been entirely honest with you, Hokage-Sama." She pulled her arm behind her head in a very Naruto-y way. "I may, or may not, have gone through your confidential files on Orochimaru with shadow clones, and I may, or may not, have found what it was I was looking for… Maybe."

Tsunade moved to take a punch at the girl standing in front of her, but by the time she got there her fist only connected with the wall that Kurai had been standing in front of. Tsunade cursed as she pulled her arm from the drywall and looked at the sizable hole she had created in her office. _Shizune is going to be pretty upset about this one._ "GET ME KAKASHI HATAKE!" She screamed through the hole in her wall, if it was going to be there, she might as well make use of it.

* * *

><p>Hinata was walking home for the lunch she had neglected to pack for training today. Her stomach grumbled and protested at being told to wait, but her stomach could shut up, she was working on it. Her hands were already incredibly sore from the amount of chakra she had been pouring out of them while she had been training with Neji. It would have been rude to say that she had wiped the floor with him, but she didn't talk, so no one was going to judge her for what she said in her head.<p>

She opened up the door to her house and smelt the familiar scent of dust and dog… no, actually she didn't. The house smelled like store-bought air cleaner and pancakes. No one had broken into her house since Hikari had disappeared, it seems a bit strange that someone would break in at lunchtime. She quickly activated her Byakugan and searched the house. Sure enough, someone's chakra signature was pantomiming flipping a pancake in one of her skillets.

Hinata walked forward slowly. The person didn't seem outright hostile (indeed, making pancakes rarely makes you seem like a particularly violent opponent), but she wanted to be careful just in case it was some kind of strange trick Kakashi was playing on her. Something about 'never letting your guard down in seemingly innocuous situations' she was sure.

When she turned the corner, what she saw was heart-wrenchingly surprising. A pale girl, with black hair down to her knees, was dancing to a tune that Hinata did not hear, while wearing only her panties, a ridiculously large chef's hat, and an apron with a comically enormous stack of pancakes to her left (who stacked pancakes twenty high on a single plate? It was a recipe for disaster). Kakashi had gone too far with his genjutsu tricks this time, this couldn't possibly be real. _It's gotten to the point where I should probably tell him he has a problem._ Hinata quickly attempted to dispel the genjutsu, but the scene in front of her didn't change.

Which meant this was one of two possibilities. Option one, it was a much better genjutsu than Kakashi typically produced. Option two, that was Kakashi wearing a henge… she felt herself get physically ill at that prospect.

"Are you going to quit loitering at the door and wish your sempai a warm welcome, or am I going to have to beat a hug out of you?" A voice that sounded exactly like Hikari's said.

That was just cruel. Whoever had done this could just die for all she cared, but this was a joke made in incredibly poor taste. Hinata felt tears start to reach her eyes as she held the wall for support. She suddenly felt weak and terribly out of breath.

The chef dropped the last pancake onto her stack and turned around. Her jaw immediately dropped and she stood completely still for a few seconds. "WHEN DID YOU GET THOSE!?" She said as she pointed accusingly at Hinata's breasts. "Seriously, did something happen to the village's water supply? Wait…" She tilted her head inquisitively. "Are you actually pregnant this time!? THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH! All the extra food in the fridge, the fact that you haven't been cleaning up. WHO'S THE FATHER? IT'S DEFINITELY NOT ME THIS TIME!"

She stopped her line of questioning when her Kohai buried her face into her shoulder and started weeping. _Maybe this was a little much._

_OH? YOU THINK!?_

_THIS WAS HOW THE PROTAGONIST GREETED HER HUSBAND IN 'MAKEOUT DOMESTICITY' DON'T JUDGE ME!_

_If this was the worst thing you've ever done in the name of the 'Makeout series,' I might not, but this barely breaks the top 5._

Kurai began slowly patting Hinata's head. She would have hoped to have avoided an emotional reunion if she could have. She normally wouldn't have gotten near emotions with a ten-foot pole someone else was holding from a mountain on the other side of the world… but this was her kohai so she felt like she owed it to her. "Why did you leave my kunai on your bedside table?" She asked as her kohai got salt water all over her new apron. It was bright pink and said 'Ninja cook, try to kiss me and I'll stab you.' It was pretty funny, she liked it.

She didn't get an answer other than pained sobs. She pulled her Kohai closer to her and pressed herself against Hinata's mounds (that part was only slightly intentional, they were just so bouncy and enthralling… she was probably channeling Anko's spirit somehow). "I gave that to you, so that if you were ever in trouble, I would know, and be able to help you. That kunai doesn't do either of us any good if you leave it at home." She said seriously.

Hinata mumbled something into her shoulder that Kurai couldn't even begin to comprehend. When Hinata entered whisper mode, you just had to wait for her to get over it. Kurai breathed in deeply, Hinata still used that coconut shampoo that Hikari had hated. "It-It was the only thing I had left of you…"

Kurai realized what her actions must have made Hinata feel. She already suffered from pretty severe abandonment issues, and she had up and abandoned her. The worst part was that Kurai was pretty sure that if she had asked Hinata to leave with her, she probably would have. "I'm sorry if I made you suffer." She said as she began running one of her hands through Hinata's silky hair (The shampoo might have smelled like coconut, but damned if it didn't do its job). "The last thing I've ever wanted was to hurt you." She paused for a long time as her Kohai snuffled and wiped her tears away on her apron. "But I'm going to be going down a path I don't want you to follow."

Hinata's grip around her tightened, like she was holding onto a lifeline for all she was worth. "Why not?" Her voice was quiet, soft. Not the strong kunoichi she had been when Kurai had left, but the little girl that Hikari had found.

"Because what I am going to do will make people suffer. There's no place for happiness on my path." Hinata felt a small sting on the left side of her stomach, she inhaled sharply as she felt herself slowly drift into unconsciousness. "I'll always protect you."

With that, Hinata's world was shrouded in darkness.

* * *

><p>Kakashi eyed the hole in the wall from his position in front of the door to Tsunade's office. That didn't bode well. Typically when Tsunade was in one of her moods like this, he would put off showing up for one or two or three hours, or maybe even an entire day if it was really bad. However, it seemed like it was incredibly important, and he wasn't in the habit of endangering lives. "Come in." Tsunade said sweetly.<p>

_Oh, no. She only uses that voice when she's really mad. Quick Kakashi, think! What have you made Sasuke do recently that you would get into this much trouble? _His mind was completely blank on subject matter as he sheepishly opened the door. When he stepped in, he noticed an incredibly large amount of confetti strewn across the ground, with a banner wreathed over the doorway. He turned to see what it said… Best Tits… Anko's not one to make banners for someone else. The sign wasn't necessarily wrong, just out of character. "Did… Did you throw yourself a party?"

Tsunade's vein throbbed. "No." She said calmly. Too calmly for Tsunade. "I just had one of the strangest interactions of my life, and I need a few questions answered." Kakashi slowly nodded his head. "How many children does Orochimaru have?"

Kakashi looked incredibly confused. "Uhh… One?"

"That's what I had been told, but I just had a visit from a pale girl claiming to be Orochimaru's daughter. With the ability to take down at least three ANBU level without taking any bodily harm whatsoever. She said her name was Kurai, though. She also hung up that banner. She said something about her getting the idea from an old sensei of hers, but the only ninja I've ever seen use banners has been Anko, and the only apprentice Anko's ever had has been Hikari. I've double checked."

Kakashi looked like he was frozen in time and space. "She was here?" He immediately summoned Pakkun. "Pakkun, do you smell anything out of the ordinary here?"

"What? It smells a bit like snake and that perfume Tsunade-Sama's wearing. Why?" He looked at the banner behind Kakashi's shoulder. "Has Anko been in here?"

"She used the Hiraishin." Tsunade said as she held out a kunai. Kakashi took the kunai in his hand and sent out a small pulse of chakra.

There was a popping sound and a black flash followed by a girl appearing in between the two of them with Sharingan in her eyes. She was chewing on something and had a pancake in one of her hands. "You rang?" Kakashi stared wide-eyed as Tsunade threw a punch at the pale girl between them. The girl dropped to the floor and grabbed onto Kakashi's foot before he felt the two of them being tossed through time and space.

Tsunade looked at the (second) hole in her wall. "DAMNIT!"

The two of them were in front of the Memorial Stone. One of her kunai was laying in front of it with a note that said 'from your favorite student' on it. Kurai laid on the ground in front of it, while Kakashi stood upright, still too stunned to speak. "I left that here because I didn't think I'd see you before I left." She said as she sat up, and reappeared directly behind the kunai. She picked it up and put it back in her pouch. "You can keep that one, though." She said as she pointed to the one Kakashi was holding.

"You… When did you learn this?" Kakashi asked as his attention oscillated between the girl who was obviously his student, and a Hiraishin seal.

"Three years ago. Right before I left the village actually." She stood up and looked at the Memorial Stone. "I see, you've put her name up." It was more of a statement of fact than an emotional response. "That's good. Hikari's been dead for three years now."

She heard the Chidori crackle into life behind her and smirked. "What did you do to my student?" He said darkly.

Kurai turned and leaned against the memorial stone. "That's not the question you should be asking Kakashi Hatake." Her Sharingan swirled to become a triangle around the center of her eye, with thick lines moving from the middle of each side of the triangle into a small ball at its center. "The real question is 'what did your student do to herself?'"

Kurai activated her own Chidori, and stood in front of her old Shishou with a smile on her face. "Why?" He asked as the anger that had covered his features was replaced with grief. "Why did you leave the Leaf Village? Why would you attack our ANBU? Why did you do that to Hinata and I?"

Kurai's gleeful expression darkened as the electricity she had built up in her hand dissipated. "I was created to do what had to be done." With a black flash, and a popping noise, Kurai disappeared from his sight.

She was gone again. She had been right in front of him, and then disappeared. What had happened while she was gone? Had another village brainwashed her? What had she meant by 'created?' Typically if she wanted to have said something cryptic like that, she would have said 'born,' but 'created' made it sound like she was an artificial construct, and not a person.

What had happened to her?

* * *

><p><em>Alright, one more to go, Mamoru-Kun!<em>

_Please tell me you aren't going to use the Makeout series for your entrance this time._

_Relax, if I showed up in front of Sasuke with a reference to that he'd probably… Honestly, he'd probably think I was Naruto using a black-haired Sexy jutsu and punch me in the face. It's probably best if I just play it cool this time._

_Thank you._

She nondescriptly knocked on the door to the house that Sasuke had been living in since he was a child. The only reason she knew that he was home was because he was literally the only human in the entire Uchiha district. It had to be a lonely existence, but he probably made it work somehow.

Sasuke opened the door and gave her a wide-eyed stare. "So, have you gotten Sakura pregnant yet or haven't you? I want to be an Aunt someday, and you're ruining my life goals sitting here."

_Why did I ever trust you? _She could hear Mamoru smack his face all the way from Ryuchi Cave.

Sasuke managed to make the single greatest 'bitch face' she had ever seen a human being made before throwing a punch. Kurai easily evaded his Taijutsu as she bent her form and deflected his punches with the fluidity of her Serpent Style Taijutsu. "Oh, Sasuke-Kun. You certainly have gotten a lot better than the last time we sparred, but you still don't hold candles at me… or something like that."

The two of them activated their fully formed Sharingan. Kurai let her smile get even bigger. "Oooooo, when did you get those?"

"Chunin Exams." He said as the two of them continued their impromptu spar. "Developed when I protected Naruto and Sakura from a giant Bear-tiger hybrid."

"That sounds like it was a lot of fun." She said as she narrowly avoided a strike to her cheek. "I would've taken you to lunch to celebrate if I was here, but I was a bit preoccupied." She said as she landed an opened palmed strike on his stomach, launching him a few feet backwards. She hadn't put any chakra into the strike, she wasn't trying to kill him here.

He reengaged and the two of them continued their game of blocking and striking. "What were you up to?" He was intrigued, but kept it out of his voice as best he could. He would wonder how Hikari had ended up in the middle of Konoha later, but right now he wanted some answers.

"Training." She said as she caught a kick Sasuke had aimed for her head, and threw him across his front yard. "You didn't think I'd been twiddling my thumbs for three years did you?"

"I thought you were dead." He said as he flipped into a standing position. "Glad to see you aren't."

"Aw, that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." She said as she dodged a punch he had sent towards her face. He had definitely been trained under Kakashi. Sasuke had speed, and no doubt a prodigious talent for Ninjutsu, but he lacked the kind of raw hitting power that you get from a Taijutsu specialist, like the Green Beast or his protégé.

Of course, if she entered Sage Mode, she would probably crush him into a fine powder, but she wasn't just going to use that kind of power for a spar with her cousin. She would however, use this.

Her Mangekyo Sharingan swirled to life, and Sasuke stopped mid swing. "How…" he didn't get any further than that as an opened palm connected with his chest and sent him sprawling away from her, knocking the air from his lungs.

"I got it the night I killed Hikari Hebi." She said stoically. "Hikari is an entity that no longer exists, my name is Kurai." She paused for a second. "Would you like to see what these eyes of mine can do?" When he stared at her with eyes filled with anger her smile faded. "My left eye is the Omoikane. It takes the predictive capabilities of a regular Sharingan to the extreme, allowing me to see all possible scenarios of a fight in an instant. Of course, it only gives me knowledge about the next couple of seconds. My right eye is the Hachiman. This lovely eye pulls me and my target into a nearly unbreakable genjutsu in which my target is forced to fight legions of fallen soldiers for days on end without the chance to rest. You can only escape if you are killed, or if 48 hours of time in my realm passes." She paused for a few seconds before her smile returned. "Of course, dying in the genjutsu will only result in a recoverable coma like state, if you have a good enough medic on hand. Any of the suffering you experience while in the genjutsu will feel incredibly real, you will continue to feel the injuries for a few days after we're finished."

Kurai stared at him for a long time before she deactivated her Sharingan. "To think, you're going to be one of the people who is destined to kill me." She sighed. "Tell Kakashi to ramp up your training, I am incredibly disappointed that this is all he's taught you."

She turned to leave. "Oh, when Naruto comes back into town, tell him I said hi." She paused again before turning her attention back to him. "You better make me an Aunt soon, or I'll never forgive you." She said with a big smile on her face. Before disappearing in a black flash.

Sasuke slowly returned to a standing position. What had she meant by 'the night she killed Hikari?" That was so obviously Hikari, that it didn't even make sense. He deactivated his Sharingan and stretched. He was going to have to redouble his training. There was no doubt in his mind that if that girl had really wanted to beat him around like a toy that she could have. She was holding back so that they could have that conversation. But what purpose did that serve?

He let out a sigh and returned to his usual slumped posture as he put his hands into his pockets and walked towards the Hokage Tower. _Might as well report this to the Hokage, hope she isn't in too bad of a mood._

* * *

><p>Tsunade read the four different reports she had made the ANBU squad, Kakashi, Hinata, and Sasuke write up about their interactions with Hikari (or Kurai, or whatever the hell the girl called herself). There was literally no other explanation for why she would randomly decide to come to the village and wreak moderate havoc. She hadn't caused any damage (Tsunade had technically been the only one to break anything), but Tsunade could not think of any reason for her to have shown herself.<p>

She had been able to garner all of the information she had needed without alerting any of the elite ANBU of her presence, and Tsunade wouldn't even have known she was in the village if it hadn't been for the little display with the banner (she should probably take that down).

Hikari had been playing with them.

* * *

><p>Omake (a short one, but it made me chuckle when I thought about it)<p>

Hayate Gekko stared at the suspended ANBU Cat with a small smirk on his face. This wasn't the first time he'd seen her like this (Bow Chicka Bow Wow). "If you say one word, I will fucking stab you."


End file.
